Lowering iron level protects against bone loss in focally irradiated and contralateral femurs through distinct mechanisms

Radiation therapy leads to increased risk of late-onset fragility and bone fracture due to the loss of bone mass. On the other hand, iron overloading causes osteoporosis by enhancing bone resorption. It has been shown that total body irradiation increases iron level, but whether the systemic bone loss is related to the changes in iron level and hepcidin regulation following bone irradiation remains unknown. To investigate the potential link between them, we first created an animal model of radiation-induced systemic bone loss by targeting the mid-shaft femur with a single 2  Gy dose of X-rays.

Source: Bone - October 7, 2018 Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Jian Zhang, Lijun Zheng, Ziyang Wang, Hailong Pei, Wentao Hu, Jing Nie, Peng Shang, Bingyan Li, Tom K. Hei, Guangming Zhou Tags: Full Length Article Source Type: research