Could these studies be early indicators of magic bullets for osteoporosis?
A new osteoporosis treatment? Researchers in Ohio have come up with a couple of compounds that have significant effects on the bones of young rats. Might this be a magic bullet to treat osteoporosis in the future? See Crit Rev Eukaryot Gene Expr. 2003;13(2-4):277-84 by Schneider GB and others. PMID: 14696974. The authors used either an entire protein, vitamin D-binding protein-macrophage activating factor (DBP-MAF), or a small peptide fragment of it along with saline controls in rats under either local or systemic dosing conditions. The results showed increased bone density in all of the tests when compared to controls. So, keep an eye out for this in the future, as it could be an interesting new weapon in the fight against osteoporosis.
Vibrate your osteoporosis away? The group at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY have been working for quite some time to develop a device to transmit vibrations to osteoporotic bones that would cause increased bone density in the process. See the April 1, 2001-18th newsletter for more on this. This latest study describes a technique of surgically placing pins into the spine and hip on volunteers who were then placed upon a vibration platform to see which frequencies, and under which conditions, vibrations would be transmitted to these bones. They found that frequencies less than 20 Hz were very effective at transmitting to the bone, especially if the volunteer was erect. The authors conclude: "Considering the anabolic potential of exceedingly low-level mechanical signals in this frequency range, this study represents a key step in the development of a biomechanically based treatment for osteoporosis." Who knows, maybe someday we won't need pills, we could just stand on a vibrating platform for a certain part of everyday and rebuild bone density. We'll hope there is continual progress on this research and that future studies will show clinical improvements in bone density with use of the vibrating platform.