Abstract
To investigate the effect of estrogen and dietary protein level on Ca metabolism, female rats were undergone ovariectomy or sham-operation. Ovariectomized rate were divided into either estrogen-or vehicle-treated groups. Each treatment group was again divided into 40%-casein(H) or 10%-casein(L) diet groups. All experimental diets contained 0.2% Ca, 0.4% P and fed to rats for 8 weeks. Apparant Ca absorption and Ca balance were not affected by dietary protein level and ovariectomy, however they were increased by estrogen injection and this effect was even higher in low protein groups. Urinary Ca excretion were higher in high protein groups. GFR was not affected by dietary protein level, ovariectomy, or by estrogen injection. Urinary protein excretion was higher in high protein groups, which implies that the kidney funtion was deteriorated by high protein diet, and this may account partly for the higher urinary Ca in high protein groups. Ovariectomy or estrogen treatment had no effect on urinary protein excretion. Urinary hydroxyproline was higher in ovariectomized rats and increased in high protein grous. Elevated value of ovarictomized rats was lowered by estrogen injection, especially in low protein group. Alkaline phosphatase tended to increase in ovariectomized groups and lowered with estrogen treatment, but this difference was not statistically significant. Serum PTH was not affected by ovariectomy and dietary protein level. Therefore the increased hydroxproline excretion does not seem to be attributed to PTH. Dietary protein level, ovariectomy and estrogen treatment did not affect the weights and components of femur, scapular, and 4th vertebra. Ash/wt ratio of femur was, however, lower in ovariectomized rats and increased with estrogen treatment. Therefore, among the bones studied, femur seemed to be the most vulnerable. The results of this study shows that estrogen treatment may alleviate or reduce bone loss in postmenopausal women somewhat, especially for those people with low protein diet.