Dietary salt, bone strength, and mineral content in unloaded rat femurs.

Introduction: Reduced bone mineral and ultimate strength are regular consequences of unloading bone. The aim of this study was to determine if high dietary salt intake would reduce the bone density and strength to a greater extent in rats with unloaded bones compared to ambulatory control rats fed the same dietary calcium and phosphorus.

Methods: Mature male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: two exposed to a spaceflight model that unloaded the hind limbs (HU) and two controls (C) with normal ambulation.

Correlation of in vitro chemopreventive efficacy data from the human epidermal cell assay with animal efficacy data and clinical trial plasma levels.

The human epidermal cell (HEC) assay, which uses carcinogen exposed normal skin keratinocytes to screen for cancer prevention efficacy, was used to screen possible preventive agents. The endpoints measured were inhibition of carcinogen-induced growth and induction of involucrin, an early marker of differentiation. Sixteen of twenty agents (apigenin, apomine, budesonide, N-(2-carboxyphenyl)retinamide, ellagic acid, ibuprofen, indomethacin, melatonin, (-)-2-oxo-4-thiazolidine carboxylic acid, polyphenon E, resveratrol, beta-sitosterol, sulfasalazine, vitamin E acetate, and zileuton) were positive in at least one of the two assay endpoints.

Calcium balance in mature male rats with unloaded hindlimbs.

Background: Calcium balances, regulated by the calcium endocrine system, are negative during spaceflight but have not been reported in flight simulation models using fully mature small animals.

Methods: We conducted two calcium (Ca) balance studies in 6-mo-old male rats exposed to a model that unloads the hindlimbs (HU) for 4 wk. Control (C) and HU rats were fed diets with 0.

The calcium endocrine system of adolescent rhesus monkeys and controls before and after spaceflight.

The calcium endocrine system of nonhuman primates can be influenced by chairing for safety and the weightless environment of spaceflight. The serum of two rhesus monkeys flown on the Bion 11 mission was assayed pre- and postflight for vitamin D metabolites, parathyroid hormone, calcitonin, parameters of calcium homeostasis, cortisol, and indexes of renal function. Results were compared with the same measures from five monkeys before and after chairing for a flight simulation study.