In this present study, female rats were ovariectomized (OVX) as the models of osteoporosis. The aim is to determine the different mechanisms of estrogen receptor(ER) alpha and beta pathway in mediating estrogen to participate in trabecular bone metabolism, and to further explore the distinction of modulation on ER alpha or ER beta between estrogens with different components. Mature female Sprague-Dawley rats (n=40) were randomly divided into four groups: group Control (sham operated), group OVX (only ovariectomized), group CEE (OVX rats treated with conjugated equine estrogens) and group EV (OVX rats treated with estradiol valerate). Sham operation and OVX were performed 48 days (12 estrums) before different liquid diet. The rats in group Control and group OVX were orally administrated with physiological saline solution and the rats in group CEE or group EV were orally administrated with CEE or EV for 12 days (3 estrums) before sacrifice. Relative quantitative reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot techniques were utilized to compare the levels of ER alpha and ER beta mRNA and proteins in trabecular bone among groups. The results showed that in rat trabecular bone of group Control, the expression of ER alpha protein (1.433 +/- 0.250) was significantly higher than that of ER beta(0.687 +/- 0.120), whereas the ER alpha mRNA (0.285 +/- 0.033) was much lower than ERbeta mRNA(0.590 +/- 0.044). Following OVX, the levels of ER alpha protein (0.685 +/- 0.103) declined significantly, whereas mRNA levels (0.405 +/- 0.036) markedly increased. Both the protein (1.091 +/- 0.078) and mRNA (0.729 +/- 0.030) levels of ER beta significantly increased after OVX. After treatment with CEE, the expression of ER beta protein (0.583 +/- 0.129) and mRNA (0.618 +/- 0.043) were markedly down-regulated compared with group OVX. After treatment with EV, the ER alpha protein expression (1.272 +/- 0.247) was markedly up-regulated, while ERa mRNA (0.277 +/- 0.040) and ER beta protein (0.620 +/- 0.174) were markedly down-regulated compared with group OVX. On the other hand, the loss of bone mass in rat trabecular bone by OVX (0.192 +/- 0.010) was markedly gained after CEE (0.228 +/- 0.012) and EV (0.259 +/- 0.007) treatment. These results demonstrate that ERalpha may be the predominant subtype expressed in female rat trebecular bone and play a key role in the bone metabolism. This study also shows that estrogens with different components protect bone through variant ERs pathway.