Bone Abstracts

Despite the presence of skeletal anomalies in fetuses of female rats treated with caffeine, their effect on bone’s formation and growth have not yet been elucidated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine on the formation and endochondral bone growth in rats. There had been used 36 Wistar rats distributed among the control group and others treated with caffeine at doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg. Treated groups received caffeine daily throughout pregnancy and lactation. There was assessed, through histomorphometry, the formation and endochondral bone growth of offspring with 3 and 21 days of age. Among the progeny of rats treated with higher doses of caffeine, malformations were observed, including syndactyly and brachydactyly. In the vertebrae and/or long bones from newborn rats, there have been found significant reduction in the length of the limbs and vertebral bodies, in the thickness of the epiphyseal plate and in the percentage of trabecular bone tissue of the primary spongiosa. In all groups treated with caffeine, epiphysis of long bone cartilage also presented chondrocytes with pyknotic nuclei and empty lacunae of chondrocytes, characteristic of cell death, as well as, glycosaminoglycans deficiency in the matrix. The 21-day of age offspring of mothers treated with caffeine remained significantly lower. Articular cartilage and epiphyseal plate of the vertebrae and long bones showed an impairment of differentiation of chondroblasts without distinction of growth plate zone. In the group treated with caffeine, there was degeneration and necrosis of chondrocytes, mainly in offspring of mothers treated with 100 mg/kg of caffeine. It is concluded that offspring from mothers treated with caffeine have reduced bone formation and endochondral bone growth at all doses studied.