Abstract: Objective To evaluate the efficacy of ibandronate (IBA) in prevention and treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis in rabbits. Methods Sixty New Zealand white rabbits were randomly allocated into six groups: control-1 group, control-2 group (treated with saline), DX6 group (treated with dexamethasone for 6 weeks), prevention group (injected with IBA at a dose of 2mg/kg before dexamethasone treatment), DX12 group (treated with dexamethasone for 12 weeks) and treatment group (additionally received IBA injection after dexamethasone treatment for 6 weeks). The rabbits from control-1 group, DX6 group and prevention group were sacrificed at week 6 and the rabbits from remaining groups were sacrificed at week 12 for bone biomechanical analysis and histological examination. Results Compared with DX6 group, bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV), trabecular number (Tb.N) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) of the lumbar spine in the prevention group increased by 100%, 45.74% and 40.55%, respectively (EM>P/EM> <0.01). The parameters in the treatment group increased by 73.34%、23.87% and 39.02%, respectively (EM>P/EM> <0.05), comparing with DX12 group. The maximum compressive load, the maximum bending stress and the maximum torque of the prevention group were higher than DX6 group by 24.19%, 29.91% and 37.24 %, respectively (EM>P /EM><0.01). The biomechanical parameters of the treatment group were higher than DX12 group by 54.36%, 21.38%, 105.75%, respectively (EM>P/EM> <0.05). Conclusion IBA may effectively prevent and treat glucocorticoid induced loss of bone mass and str

Key words: Ibandronate, Glucocorticoid, Osteoporosis, Histomorphometry, Bone biomechanics, Rabbit