Postmenopausal women and young, female athletes who exercise strenuously and excessively are at the highest risk of developing osteoporosis because of estrogen deficiencies.
Estrogens cause increased osteoblastic activity.
This study firstly tests the hypothesis that osteoporotic characteristics can be initiated in osteoblasts through estrogen deprivation. This study secondly tests the hypothesis that the induced osteoporotic characteristics can be reversed through estrogen therapy. The experiment consisted of sustaining a positive control group in which osteoblasts were exposed to normal levels of estrogen, a negative control group in which osteoblasts were deprived of estrogen, and an experimental group in which osteoblasts were deprived of estrogen for the first half of the experiment and exposed to normal levels of estrogen for the second half of the experiment. Calcium uptake by the bone cells from the growth medium was calculated by spectrophotometry to indicate the physical states of the bone cells during the experiment. The positive control group maintained a high level of calcium inside the cells for the duration of the experiment.