WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Recently, scientists found a new hormone CCN3, dubbed maternal brain hormone, which travels from brain to bone-forming cells in breastfeeding women, boosting bone stem cell activity.
The study, conducted on mice, noted that the estrogen level drops in women after they deliver a baby, which would lower the amount of calcium in the body as it would be used in producing nutrient-rich milk.
While conducting another study, Holly Ingraham at the University of California, San Francisco, and her team found that blocking an estrogen receptor in the hypothalamus of female mice led to higher bone density.
'It was a bit paradoxical because here we're getting rid of oestrogen signalling, which you think of as being beneficial for bone, and creating females with these extremely dense bones,' said Ingraham.
During the study, published in the journal Nature, researchers surgically connected the mice to other female mice with lack of estrogen receptors. After 17 weeks, scientists noted an increase of 152 percent in bone volume in the mice attached to those with strong bones.
'When I saw that fracture repair data, I knew that this absolutely had to be real,' Ingraham said. 'It's just so phenomenal that you can take these 2-year-old male mice . and see that sort of repair.'
The scientists then checked the CCN3 hormone in female mice before getting pregnant and after delivering the baby, revealing that it is only produced during lactation period.
'This is an equal-opportunity hormone - it works in both males and female bones and skeletal stem cells,' Ingraham said. 'If we can develop it into a therapy, will work in both males and females.'
The new hormone could be utilized for fracture repair, osteoporosis treatment, and other bone-related issues.
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