Inhibition of cortical and trabecular bone formation in the long bones of immobilized monkeys

The acute effects of immobilization on cortical and trabecular bone formation were studied in juvenile male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Four animals were immobilized for two weeks by application of total body casts. Two control monkeys were housed in separate metabolic cages under similar environmental and dietary conditions. Tetracycline derivatives were administered on three separate occasions to label sites of bone formation. The tetracycline-labeling frequency and mineral apposition rate of osteons and trabecular bone surfaces in the humerus and femur were determined. The inhibition of bone formation induced by immobilization was more pronounced in trabecular bone. Immobilized monkeys exhibited a moderate, but statistically nonsignificant, reduction in the percentage of osteons forming bone. Conversely, the dramatic decline in the percentage of trabecular surfaces undergoing bone formation in immobilized monkeys was found to be highly significant. The diminished rate of mineral apposition in osteons suggested that osteoblastic activity was impaired in cortical bone during immobilization. The mineral apposition rate in trabecular bone could not be determined reliably due to minimal tetracycline deposition, which indicated that osteoblastic activity and/or recruitment almost ceased in the metaphyseal tissue of immobilized monkeys.