Prevention of bone deterioration by whole-body vibration in a rat model of pre-type 2 diabetes

OBJECTIVES: To examine effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) on bone properties in pre-type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. METHODS: Six-week-old male Hos:ZFDM-Lepr(fa), fa/fa (DM) and Hos:ZFDM-Lepr(fa), fa/+ (CON; untreated non-DM) rats were used in the experiments. Half of DM rats were subjected to WBV (45 Hz, 0.5 g, 15 min/day, 5 days/week) for 8 weeks (WBV group), and the other half was not (DM group). RESULTS: Bone mass, trabecular bone microstructure (TBMS), and cortical bone geometry (CBG) parameters were worse in the DM and WBV groups compared with the CON group. Maximum load was significantly decreased in the DM group compared with the CON group, and the break point was significantly higher in the WBV group compared with the DM group. Serum levels of bone specific alkaline phosphatase were significantly lower in the WBV group compared with the CON group. Glycemic control was not worse in the WBV group compared with the DM group, but not the same levels as the CON group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that WBV can potentially delay the decrease in maximum load, although it does not prevent the deterioration of bone mass, TBMS, and CBG parameters.