Age shaped responses to disuse and a bone drug in mice
In a 14-day unloading experiment in 120 male mice, alendronate maintained bone volume in young mice but did not prevent calf muscle loss.
40 mice
Limit: Reported alendronate doses conflict across the abstract, methods, and protocol
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an animal experiment, 120 male C57BL/6J mice aged 3, 12 or 20 months were randomly assigned to the bone drug alendronate or control injections, with or without 14 days of hindlimb unloading. Tail suspension kept their hind feet off the cage floor. The dosing protocol specified 1.0 milligram per kilogram injected under the skin biweekly, starting seven days before unloading.
Unloading reduced bone structure measures in young mice, but not middle-aged mice; old mice showed a reduced response. Alendronate maintained bone volume during unloading in young mice and increased it in middle-aged and old mice. Unloading reduced calf muscle mass, and alendronate did not recover that loss. Age also affected tendon responses to unloading or alendronate.
Why it matters
The authors argued that understanding age-dependent responses is essential for interpreting outcomes of bone- and muscle-preserving approaches during bedrest, immobilization or spaceflight.
Caveats
This was a short experiment in male mice, not people. The reported alendronate doses conflict: 0.03 milligrams per mouse in the abstract, 0.003 milligrams per mouse in one methods section and 1.0 milligram per kilogram in the dosing protocol.
The paper
Age-dependent musculoskeletal changes during mechanical unloading with bisphosphonate treatment
UC Davis Health; University of California Davis Medical Center
Bone, May 6, 2026
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