Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 8, Issue 23, 2002

Bone growth is regulated by circulating hormones and locally generated factors. Understanding their mechanisms of action enables us to obtain a better appreciation of the cellular and molecular basis of bone remodelling, and could therefore be valuable in approaches to new therapies. In this review, we consider the actions on bone tissue of the peptide hormones amylin and adrenomedullin, known to circulate at picomolar co Read More

Potent antiresorptive agents have been developed for the treatment of osteoporosis and bone disorders. There are few agents available that stimulate bone formation. Recently, treatment with parathyroid hormone was found to induce a potent increase in hip and lumbar bone mineral density (BMD). The present review focus on growth hormone (GH) / growth hormone secretagogues (GHSs). GH / GHSs stimulates bone t Read More

The proton pump expressed on the plasma membrane of bone resorbing osteoclasts, and which mediates the acidification of the extracellular environment in resorption lacuna, belongs to the family of vacuolar H+-ATPases, which are enzymes ubiquitously distributed among all cells and are evolutionary conserved. These pumps have two functional domains: a peripherally associated cytoplasmatic section, and a proton c Read More

The dynamic and highly regulated processes of bone remodeling involve two major cells, osteoclasts and osteoblasts, both of which command a multitude of cellular signaling pathways involving protein kinases. Of the possible kinases in these cells, Src tyrosine kinase stands out as a promising therapeutic target for bone disease as validated by Src knockout mouse studies and in vitro cellular experiments, suggesting Read More

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is the key endocrine factor regulating systemic Ca2+ homeostasis. Elevated levels of circulating PTH increase bone turnover and, depending on the duration of elevation, will result in net anabolic or catabolic effects on the skeleton. Secretion of PTH from the parathyroid glands is regulated by small changes in circulating levels of Ca2+ which are detected by a Ca2+ receptor on the surface of Read More

Estrogens are known as important modulators of development, growth and maintenance of primary sexual physiology. The medical field has also grown increasingly appreciative of the effects of estrogens on non-traditional target tissues such as bone, cardiovascular tissue and the CNS. Postmenopausal women have been the beneficiaries of estrogen supplementation regimes, but the proliferative actions of estrogens on Read More