Is it possible to have heavy bones

The skeleton is often seen as an inert tissue, but this perception is quite wrong. In fact, the skeleton is constantly being remodelled: old bone fragments are broken down and new bone matrix is deposited, overall leading to a completely renewed skeleton every ten years.

There are specific cells that form bone and other cells that resorb it. In diseases such as osteoporosis, the latter cells are too active and too much bone is degraded. Most drugs that are currently used primarily aim at blocking these resorptive cells. Unfortunately, this generally means that their counterparts, the cells responsible for the formation of bone, also stop working. As a consequence, the renewal of the bone is halted. In addition to the bone loss, the quality of the bone also deteriorates.

Ultimately, this can lead to painful fractures that are difficult to heal. To develop new drugs, scientists are investigating how the bone-forming cells can be activated. A good blood supply is vital for the bone cells to work well. But we do not yet understand the full meaning of the close connection between blood vessels and bone cells. One aspect is that blood vessels provide oxygen. In this study, we investigated the importance of oxygen by analyzing mice with a mutation that makes their bone cells behave as if they were deprived of oxygen.

The researchers found two consequences. Firstly, the mice formed abnormally heavy bones. Within the bones, they noted that the bone cells absorbed massive amounts of glucose.

As a result, the bones of these individuals are not fragile but unusually strong and fracture-resistant. This led them to perform blood tests on affected family members in an effort to determine what chromosome the gene was on, and to isolate the specific genetic abnormality.

They focused their attention on chromosome 11, site of a known mutation that can cause low bone density. At about the same time, a second team based in Omaha was studying a similar family, many of whose members had never fractured a bone and turned out to have equally high bone density.

Genetic studies eventually showed that the mutation involved a signaling pathway that regulates normal bone growth and development. The new trait showed that the same pathway also regulates overall bone mass.

They learned that if the gene is disrupted in a way that leads to less activity, the bones that form are very brittle and susceptible to fracture. But if the gene disruption leads to overactive function as in the patients with the newly discovered trait , bones are unusually dense and strong. The identification of this pathway has spawned intense scientific investigation. In osteoporosis, age-related declines in hormones especially estrogen in women result in a rapid increase in bone breakdown that outpaces bone formation.

It appears that manipulating this genetic pathway can prevent fractures in patients with osteoporosis, a finding recently described in older adults. As more individuals with the new trait have been studied, though, it has become apparent that the condition can have adverse effects for some patients. My young mind ran away with me and I was convinced that she must look like one of the scary monsters on Dr Who I used to hide behind the sofa from to be able to lug her massive skeleton around!

The average skeleton consists of bones, very long bones such as the femur in the upper leg to the tiny stapes bone, the size of a grain of rice in the middle ear. Throughout our lives we are constantly renewing bone and clearing away old bone.

The skeleton gives us our shape which is generally genetic which gives us our shoulder and hip width, leg and arm length.

It protects our internal organs from injury, there are ligaments and tendons which attach to bone which gives us the ability to move and minerals and fats and yellow bone marrow are stored in the center of them. Pretty impressive and we take it all for granted! If man were to try and replicate a skeleton with a synthetic material it would literally weigh a ton but our bodies are incredibly brilliant to have designed something so good which weighs so little! Bone density the thickness of our bones relies on a good diet, sunlight and physical activity to keep them strong.