Study Finds the Brain Affects Bone Growth
Posted on: Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 15:00 CDT
U.S. scientists searching for a gene therapy to control obesity have discovered how the brain regulates bone growth.
The results of the study -- conducted at the University of Florida and Oregon State University -- might lead to new treatments for osteoporosis and other bone-robbing diseases.
Researchers transferred the gene that produces leptin -- a hormone linked with appetite control, obesity and diabetes -- into the brains of mice that were leptin-deficient and obese.
The gene transfer not only helped the mice lower their body weight, it unexpectedly increased bone growth and normalized their bone volume.
The study is the first to show that without leptin in the brain, bones do not grow properly.
On the basis of previously published research, we expected the gene therapy to result in bone loss -- we thought that osteoporosis would be a potential negative side effect of the treatment, said Assistant Oregon State University Professor Urszula Iwaniec, lead author of the study. But when we increased leptin in the brain, we saw increased bone growth and normalization of bone mass.
The research appears in the journal Peptides.
Source: United Press International
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