Morphological changes in the spongy bone of Japanese quails after 90 days of hypodynamy

One of the major well known consequences of prolonged weightlessness in animals is a significant depression in the quality and quantity of the musculoskeletal mass. We investigated the morphological changes in the spongy bone of Japanese quails following their exposure to the ground based model simulated microgravity (hypodynamy). The primary structural alterations of the spongy bone consisted of a marked increase in the number and activity of the osteoclasts when compared with the controls. In addition, we also observed decreasing numbers of the bone forming cells (osteoblasts) in the treated group compared with the controls.