New Muscle Pacemaker Increases Targeted Bone Volume by 30 Percent

A team of researchers at Liverpool has developed a novel technique to increase targeted bone volume by 30 percent among elderly people.

Older people are at greater risk of vitamin deficiency and this leads to serious problems due to low bone density and muscles. It  makes them vulnerable to falls and fractures.  Women, especially after menopause, suffer from low bone density.  An effective treatment has been developed by researchers of the University of Liverpool's Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease.

 A miniature muscle pacemakers was designed by Professor Jonathan Jarvis, which produces contractions in the muscles of the legs. The study was conducted on laboratory rats. The miniature pacemakers produced contractions in the leg and that the rats gained 30 percent bone density within the targeted areas in a month..

 PhD student Paula Vickerton led the research. She said: "Bone disease and fragility are affecting an increasing proportion of our population. However, existing treatments are non-specific, affecting whole bones and not just the weaker regions."

Paula's supervisor, Dr Nathan Jeffery said: "This method has been shown to increase the amount of bone and raises the possibility of being developed into a treatment for people who are at risk of the many complications that weakened bone can bring."

Last month, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine had identified a novel approach to treat brittle bone disease, a congenital disorder that leads to fragile bones that break easily. In animal studies, the researchers found that blocking the transforming growth factor beta (TGF), protein in the matrix using an antibody of the bone, could successfully restore the quantity of bone in mice with various forms of brittle bone disease.

The study was documented in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.