Issue 40

I. Doulamis et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 40 (2017) 85-94; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.40.08 85 Focussed on Recent advances in “Experimental Mechanics of Materials” in Greece Exercise as a mean to reverse the detrimental effect of high-fat diet on bone’s fracture characteristics Ilias Doulamis, Despina N. Perrea Laboratory for Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research “N.S. Christeas”, National and Kapodistrian Universtiy of Athens, Medical School, Agiou Thoma str. 15B, 11527, Athens, Greece. Panagiotis E. Chatzistergos School of Health Sciences and Education, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. Panagiotis.Chatzistergos@staffs.ac.uk Athanasios S. Mitousoudis, Stavros K. Kourkoulis Unit of Biomechanics, Department of Mechanics, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, 15773, Athens, Greece. A BSTRACT . The aim of this study is to investigate whether exercise can reverse some of the adverse effects of high-fat-diet-induced obesity on lipid metabolism and bone biomechanical properties. A total of 26 adult male C57bl/6J mice were randomly assigned into three groups: (A) Control group (n=6), (B) High-fat diet group (n=10), (C) High-fat diet and exercise group (n=10). Body mass and relevant biochemical parameters were measured for the duration of the experimental protocol (37 weeks). Mechanical strength of both femurs of each animal was assessed in-vitro based on three point bending tests. It was revealed that exposure to high-fat diet led to significant increase of body mass and cholesterol levels and also to substantial changes in bone morphology and strength. Ultimate stress for the animals exposed to high-fat diet and those exposed to high-fat-diet and exercise was 25% and 24% lower compared to control, respectively. Exercise increased bone thickness by 15% compared to animals that were not exposed to exercise. It was concluded that high-fat-diet appears to have a detrimental effect on bone biomechanics and strength. Exercise reversed the reduction in bone thickness that appears to be induced by high-fat diet. However no statistically significant increase in bone strength was observed. K EYWORDS . Bone biomechanics; Mice; Femur; High-fat-diet; Three-point bending; Bending strength. Citation: Doulamis, I., Chatzistergos, P.E., Mitousoudis, A.S., Kourkoulis, S.K., Perrea, D.N., Exercise as a mean to reverse the detrimental effect of high-fat diet on bone’s fracture characteristics, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 40 (2017) 85-94. Received: 17.02.2017 Accepted: 10.03.2017 Published: 01.04.2017 Copyright: © 2017 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.