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The effect of dietary lactoferrin on bone status in the ovariectomized mice
Author(s) -
Blais Anne,
MartinRouas Christine,
Mikogami Takashi,
Tomé Daniel
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a355-c
Subject(s) - lactoferrin , ovariectomized rat , endocrinology , medicine , bone mineral , chemistry , transferrin , osteoporosis , biology , biochemistry , estrogen
Lactoferrin is an 80‐kDa iron‐binding glycoprotein of the transferrin family found in high concentration in external secretions in many mammalian species including human. In healthy subjects lactoferrin circulates at a concentration of 2–7 μg/ml. Lactoferrin possesses many biological functions and recently it has been shown to promote bone growth at physiological concentrations. In vitro, using primary cultures of bone cells, lactoferrin potently stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and inhibits osteoclastogenesis. In order to investigate whether lactoferrin administrated with a diet could prevent bone loss in ovariectomized mice, three‐month‐old female C3H mice were ovariectomized or sham‐operated and were given for 3 months a standard diet, AIN‐93M with total milk proteins as a protein source, containing bovine lactoferrin at a dose of 0, 1, 5, 10 or 20 g/kg diet. Ovariectomy induced a decreased uterine weight, a smaller gain of bone mineral density and an enhanced gain of body weight associated with an increase of the subcutaneous fat tissue. Oral administration of lactoferrin improved dose‐dependently bone mineral density and femoral failure load. These results suggest that dietary lactoferrin supplementation could prevent postmenopausal bone loss.