One year of abaloparatide, a selective peptide activator of the PTH1 receptor, increased bone mass and strength in ovariectomized rats

Abstract Abaloparatide is a novel 34 amino acid peptide selected to be a potent and selective activator of the parathyroid hormone receptor 1 (PTHR1) signaling pathway. The effects of 12 months of abaloparatide treatment on bone mass, bone strength and bone quality was assessed in osteopenic ovariectomized (OVX) rats. SD rats were subjected to OVX or sham surgery at 6 months of age and left untreated for 3 months to allow OVX-induced bone loss. Eighteen OVX rats were sacrificed after this bone depletion period, and the remaining OVX rats received daily s.c. injections of vehicle (n = 18) or abaloparatide at 1, 5 or 25 μg/kg/d (n = 18/dose level) for 12 months. Sham controls (n = 18) received vehicle daily. Bone changes were assessed by DXA and pQCT after 0, 3, 6 or 12 months of treatment, and destructive biomechanical testing was conducted at month 12 to assess bone strength and bone quality. Abaloparatide dose-dependently increased bone mass at the lumbar spine and at the proximal and diaphyseal regions of the tibia and femur. pQCT revealed that increased cortical bone volume at the tibia was a result of periosteal expansion and endocortical bone apposition. Abaloparatide dose-dependently increased structural strength of L4-L5 vertebral bodies, the femur diaphysis, and the femur neck. Increments in peak load for lumbar spine and the femur diaphysis of abaloparatide-treated rats persisted even after adjusting for treatment-related increments in BMC, and estimated material properties were maintained or increased at the femur diaphysis with abaloparatide. The abaloparatide groups also exhibited significant and positive correlations between bone mass and bone strength at these sites. These data indicate that gains in cortical and trabecular bone mass with abaloparatide are accompanied by and correlated with improvements in bone strength, resulting in maintenance or improvement in bone quality. Thus, this study demonstrated that long-term daily administration of abaloparatide to osteopenic OVX rats led to dose-dependent improvements in bone mass, geometry and strength.