A drug that we may take to reduce our blood pressure could be modified to protect our bones from eroding, which can bring hope to those of us who suffer from osteoporosis. The research by Baylor College of Medicine suggests that beta blockers could alter how our body sheds bone cells, meaning we can preserve our bone wellness.
All systems go
Beta blockers interact with our bodies natural processes to boost our wellbeing. They can have a calming effect on our sympathetic nervous system, which primes our body to respond to events in our lives. This makes them useful when this system works against us, by causing high blood pressure for example. Now researchers at the university discovered the medication preserved bone tissue in mice, which means the drug could be altered to have the same effect in humans.
Hormone regulation
Some years ago lead researchers on the study found that a hormone connected with our appetite, also affects bone formation. This hormone – leptin – can be controlled by our sympathetic nervous system, our bone cells are further linked to these processes by receptors. It seems that the receptors can influence our nervous system, which then affects the hormone, resulting in bone loss. In the animal studies, mice who didn’t have the receptor kept more of their bone cells. Experts at the university explain that this is a rare finding as our nervous system is not normally connected with our BMD.
What next
Researchers say that the next step to create a new drug to guard us against osteoporosis is to make new medicines based on beta blockers. They would like to create new medication that won’t have any effects on our hearts – like current beta blockers do – but instead target just our bone cells. There are other drugs on the market that can help preserve our bone tissue, and our GPs can go into more detail about these options.
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