IL-1 Regulates Bone Density

Researchers seeking to understand the factors that lead to loss of bone density and development of osteoporosis have found that interleukin-1 (IL-1) produced in the brain is linked to an increase in the number and activity of the multinucleated cells that degrade and reabsorb bone, called osteoclastic cells.

Investigators at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) worked with two lines of mice genetically engineered to have defects in brain-generated IL-1. They found that mice of the IL-1rKO line, which lacked the gene for IL-1, had abnormally low bone density. The second line (IL-1raTG) had normal bone density, but could be made to develop osteoporosis by inducing the mice to overexpress human IL-1 receptor antagonist to the central nervous system using the murine glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter. These findings were published in the August 26, 2005, online edition of the Proceedings of the [U.S.] National Academy of Sciences.

"The connection between the brain and the bone structure is a new area of research about which very little is known,” said senior author Professor Itai Bab, director of the bone laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "These new findings regarding the action of interleukin-1 on the breakdown of bone tissue indicate a complex neural system controlling bone structure and point the way towards new revelations in the near future in this area.”




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