The Gist of Science Reporter: November 2016
- Study on Cartilage and Bone Formation shows Promising Results (Free Available)
- Seeing the World of Eye (Free Available)
- ISRO Conducts Successful In-flight Test of Scram Jet Engines (Only For The Subscribed Members)
Study on Cartilage and Bone Formation shows Promising Results
For patients of bone-related ailments, good news might be in the offing. Research undertaken by Professor Amitabha Bandyopadhyay at Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kanpur studying the mechanisms of cartilage and bone formation in fetuses and the maintenance of joint cartilage and bone in adults could have ground-breaking applications in the treatment of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
In early fetuses the elements of hand and leg skeleton are made of pure unsegmented cartilage. As the fetus grows, this cartilage element is branched and segmented, during which the majority of the. cartilage gets converted to bone. Thus, only afflicted of cartilage remains, capping the Dones at joint sites.
Bandyopadhyay and his team pose that osteoarthritis is nothing but conversion of permanent cartilage to transient cartilage to bone in adults. He is now trying to study whether the gene that promotes formation of bones in fetuses can lead to development of osteoarthritis in adults. If true, he hopes to find means to block this gene which will be a huge leap forward in anti-osteoarthritis drug development research.
His research also shows a way forward in osteoporosis treatments. Osteoporosis is a result of failure to maintain bone mass in adults and post- menopausal women are particularly susceptible to this condition. Until very recently, its treatment was exclusively focused on preventing deterioration of bones post diagnosis but it is only in the last few years that drugs helping in bone regeneration have been used as treatments, though there are adverse effects related to them as well.