Effects of bovine colostrum acid protein on bone loss and hemobiochemistry indexes in rats | Effets de la protéine acide du colostrum bovin sur la perte osseuse et les indices hémobiochimiques chez le rat

At present, researchers all over the world focus on the methods to prevent and cure osteoporosis. Many reports have shown that bovine milk and its basic proteins, and bovine colostrums (BC) and their extracts have positive effects on bone growth of human beings or experimental rats, such as increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and promoting calcium absorption. However, to our best knowledge, the effects of acid proteins from BC (BCAP) on bone properties have not been reported, and the effect on the potential hazard on blood lipids of rats has not been reported. This study investigated the effect of BCAP on bone loss in aged ovariectomized (OVX) rats and the hemobiochemistry parameters (HP) in serum. Forty-eight female Sprague-Dawley rats of clean grade were ovariectomized and another 12 rats received a sham operation. The OVX rats were randomly separated into four groups, i.e. OVX control, OVX low dose (0.04 g·d⁻¹), OVX medium dose (0.20 g·d⁻¹), and OVX high dose (0.40 g·d⁻¹). BCAP were applied in rat diet for 12 weeks and the rats were gavaged once a day. The effects of BCAP on HP, calcium content (CC), and BMD of femur were determined using biochemical analysis, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results showed that BCAP could increase the femur weight/length. CC of femurs in rats with BCAP were significantly higher than those of shamoperated group and model control group. BCAP increased the BMD of femur. However, BCAP at a low dosage exhibited higher activity than that at a medium or high dosage. BCAP had no particular effects on the HP of rats. It is concluded that BCAP at dose < 0.04 g·d⁻¹ can prevent osteoporosis caused by bone loss due to estrogen reduction in OVX rats, and BCAP (0.04–0.40 g·d⁻¹) has no potential hazard on blood lipids of rats under present experimental condition.