The objective of this study was to identify fat emboli in the arterioles of the femoral bone marrow by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) after glucocorticoid administration. Female adult rabbits weighing 3.5 to 4.0 kg received a single injection of prednisolone at a dose of 4 mg/kg body weight. The day after injection was designated as day 1. Control rabbits were injected with only physiological saline and euthanized on day 14. The femoral bone marrow was obtained on days 5, 8, and 14, and processed for SEM. Aortic blood serum was passed through a filter, and the filter was processed for SEM. Some SEM specimens were embedded in a plastic resin and sectioned for correspondence of SEM-photomicroscopy or SEM-TEM.Introduction
Methods
Recently, oxidative stress has been implicated in the development of osteonecrosis. Here we focused on vitamins with marked antioxidant potency to see whether their use might prevent the development of osteonecrosis associated with corticosteroid administration. Fifteen male Japanese white rabbits weighing about 3.5 kg were injected once into the right gluteal muscle with methylprednisolone (MPSL) 40 mg/kg (S Group). Ten other rabbits, in addition, received consecutive daily intravenous injections of vitamin E 50 mg/kg starting from the day of MPSL administration (E Group), and 10 other animals similarly received consecutive daily intravenous injections of vitamin C 30 mg/kg (C Group). All animals were euthanized 2 weeks after MPSL administration, and femurs were extracted, and stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Blood levels of glutathione (GSH) were also measured.Introduction
Methods
