(1) Reproduction method: Adult rats were fed hydroxyurea at a dose of 2.5g/kg body weight, 3 times per week, and kept for 90 days. They were free to ingest water and food. Subcutaneous injection of tetracycline hydrochloride (25mg/kg body weight) was administered to the rats on the 10th and 2nd days before their execution. After 3 months, blood was taken to detect serum T3, T4, and trace elements. The animals were euthanized, and viscera were weighed. Tibia bone slices were prepared from the tibia for relevant examinations.
(2) Model characteristics: Animal weight loss, gastrocnemius muscle atrophy, and reduced weight of internal organs, especially liver, lungs, and testes; The percentage of cortical bone area decreases, while the percentage of bone marrow area increases; The percentage of fluorescence labeled perimeter, bone mineralization deposition rate, bone formation rate, and bone resorption perimeter increased. The content of Cu and T4 in serum trace elements significantly increased.
(3) Comparative medicine hydroxyurea is a drug used to treat tumors. After clinical use, it has adverse reactions such as fatigue, chills, facial whitening, and numbness. Its mechanism of action is to inhibit nucleotide reductase, thereby inhibiting DNA synthesis and causing corresponding changes in fat and protein metabolism, resulting in a series of deficiency symptoms. Creating a rat model of "Yang deficiency" with hydroxyurea can reflect the appearance and metabolic changes of "Yang deficiency" in traditional Chinese medicine; At the same time, it has also been preliminarily proven that osteoporosis may occur. This model can be used to study the pathogenesis and prevention and treatment of elderly osteoporosis from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine. According to reports, this method is in line with the long-term course of traditional Chinese medicine clinical patients, and the functional status of all systems in the body is at a low level. It is relatively close to the chronic type of kidney yang deficiency, and the symptoms are alleviated after using yang boosting drugs.