High blood pressure and osteoporosis are common diseases, and it is quite common to have both at the same time. In a new study, researchers examined inflammation associated with high blood pressure in mice in an attempt to find out if high blood pressure might be related to osteoporosis.
The bone marrow is a place where both new bone tissue and new immune cells are made.
The team led by Elizabeth Maria Hennen, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, suspected that an increased number of pro-inflammatory immune cells in the bone marrow could cause damage to bone tissue, weakening it.
In the study, the researchers compared young mice with induced hypertension with older mice without hypertension to assess the possible relationship of hypertension with bone aging. The human age equivalent was about 20-30 years for young mice and about 47-56 years for old mice. For 6 weeks, a group of 12 young mice received angiotensin II, a hormone that causes high blood pressure. For 6 weeks, a group of 11 old mice also received angiotensin II. Two groups, one of 13 young mice and one of 9 old mice, did not receive angiotensin II.
After six weeks, the researchers analyzed the bones of the mice from the four groups using microcomputed tomography. Bone health was determined by bone strength and density.
As expected, the mice in the two groups that did not receive angiotensin II did not develop hypertension.
Blood pressure measurement. (Photo: Amanda Mills/CDC)
Compared with young mice without hypertension, hypertensive-induced young mice had a significant 24% reduction in bone volume fraction, an 18% reduction in the thickness of the sponge-like trabecular bone at the end of long bones, such as the femurs and spine, and a 34% reduction in the ability of bones to withstand loads and structural stresses without fracturing.
During the study, old mice, with or without hypertension, showed reduced bone quality similar to that of young hypertensive mice.
In these mice, being hypertensive at a young age apparently caused extra bone aging, as if they were 15 to 25 human years older.
“If we know well enough how high blood pressure contributes to osteoporosis, we may be able to reduce the risk of osteoporosis and better protect people from getting fragility fractures and having a lower quality of life,” says Hennen.
The results of the study have been presented publicly at a recent meeting of the American Heart Association. (Font: NCYT by Amazings)
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