A new animal model based study has found that a drug used to lower cholesterol may also help in healing bones.
Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics said that the finding of the drug Lovastatin as a booster will be of great interest to NF1 patients and their physicians.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is produced by the body (liver) and is essential for normal body functioning.
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The study was conducted using an animal model of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).
Many NF1 patients suffer from bowing, spontaneous fractures and pseudarthrosis (incomplete healing) of the tibias (shinbones).
Mateusz Kolanczyk from Stefan Mundlos' laboratory in the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, led a team that examined lovastatin's ability to prevent pseudarthrosis in a new animal model of human NF1 disease.
![Gallstones]( "Gallstones")
The gallbladder is a small pear-shaped organ that stores and concentrates bile Gallstones are crystalline stones that form inside the gall bladder or bile duct.
Present therapies are often futile when applied to pseudarthrosis of the tibia; in some cases, amputation is the only option.
To better understand this problem, Kolanczyk and his colleagues developed this mouse model.
"In our model, the mice showed tibial bowing similar to that observed in NF1 patients, however since mouse legs are not subjected to the same excessive mechanical forces as humans, we also applied a bone injury model," he said.
The researchers drilled a 0.5mm hole in the tibia of anaesthetised mice.
"This enables analysis of the complex process of bone repair while at the same time causing the least possible distress to the animals," the authors said.
The process of bone repair was examined 7, 14 and 28 days post-injury.
The researchers found that the mice given the statin treatment had marked improvements in bone healing compared to the control animals.
"Lovastatin appears to accelerate cortical bone repair primarily by enhancing new bone formation within the bone marrow cavity and by replacing fibro-cartilaginous tissue in the injury site with mineralised bone matrix," the authors said.
"Our results suggest the usefulness of lovastatin, a drug approved in 1987 for the treatment of high cholesterol, in the treatment of neurofibromatosis-related fracture healing abnormalities," Kolanczyk said.
The study is published in the open access journal BMC Medicine.
Source: ANI
RAS/L
Mateusz Kolanczyk from Stefan Mundlos' laboratory in the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, led a team that examined lovastatin's ability to prevent pseudarthrosis in a new animal model of human NF1 disease.
Gallstones
The gallbladder is a small pear-shaped organ that stores and concentrates bile Gallstones are crystalline stones that form inside the gall bladder or bile duct.
Advertisement
Present therapies are often futile when applied to pseudarthrosis of the tibia; in some cases, amputation is the only option.
To better understand this problem, Kolanczyk and his colleagues developed this mouse model.
"In our model, the mice showed tibial bowing similar to that observed in NF1 patients, however since mouse legs are not subjected to the same excessive mechanical forces as humans, we also applied a bone injury model," he said.
The researchers drilled a 0.5mm hole in the tibia of anaesthetised mice.
"This enables analysis of the complex process of bone repair while at the same time causing the least possible distress to the animals," the authors said.
The process of bone repair was examined 7, 14 and 28 days post-injury.
The researchers found that the mice given the statin treatment had marked improvements in bone healing compared to the control animals.
"Lovastatin appears to accelerate cortical bone repair primarily by enhancing new bone formation within the bone marrow cavity and by replacing fibro-cartilaginous tissue in the injury site with mineralised bone matrix," the authors said.
"Our results suggest the usefulness of lovastatin, a drug approved in 1987 for the treatment of high cholesterol, in the treatment of neurofibromatosis-related fracture healing abnormalities," Kolanczyk said.
The study is published in the open access journal BMC Medicine.
Source: ANI
RAS/L
Animation on Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) - Animation
Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) is performed to restore the blood supply to areas of heart that have been reduced or has no blood supply due to blockage in the artery.
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