Fig. 1
Time sequence of interventions and treatments. Rats were sham-operated or ovariectomized (OVX) at the age of 12 weeks. Five weeks later (on week 17), chronic bisphosphonate (BIS, once a week in a dose of 80 μg kg−1 in the tail vein) or saline vehicle (Veh) treatment was initiated. At the end of the protocol (week 21), 60 min of limb ischemia followed was induced by 180 min reperfusion (IR), and periosteal microcirculatory measurements by fluorescence intravital microscopy (IVM; series 1, n = 7–9) were conducted as well as sampling for leukocyte adhesion molecule CD11b expression and serum TNF-alpha measurements (series 2, n = 7 each)