WebMD Medical News Louise Chang, MD Feb. 7, 2010 -- The hormone
serotonin may hold the key to new treatments for reversing
osteoporosis-related bone loss, new research finds. When
investigators at Columbia University Medical Center treated mice
and rats with an experimental drug that stopped the gut from
synthesizing serotonin, they were able to reverse severe bone
loss and essentially cure osteoporosis in the animals. The same
team made headlines a little over a year ago with the discovery
that bone formation is inhibited by serotonin in the gut.
Serotonin is best known for its effects in the brain on mood.
Their latest finding, reported Feb. 7 in the journal Nature
Medicine, holds the promise of new and better treatments for
building new bone, osteoporosis experts tell WebMD. Most bone
treatments work to block bone loss and make existing bone
stronger. One drug, Forteo, does build new bone, but it requires
daily injections and is limited to two years of use. "The notion
of a different approach to producing