This may change since researchers in the Bone Laboratory at the Institute of Dental Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Dental Medicine are at work developing new therapeutic and preventive treatments for male sufferers of osteoporosis. The research team, headed by Professor Itai Bab, is working on preparations that stimulate bone building based on hormones occurring naturally that regulates bone formation. Bab's team has collaborated with a team at the Division of Bone and Mineral Metabolism at Harvard Medical School in Boston, headed by Professors Michael Chorev and Michael Rosenblatt. The two teams have reported that the Osteogenic Growth Peptide and the Parathyroid Hormone stimulate the building of bone in osteoporotic mice. This has led to the development of drugs that can prevent bone loss and restore the porous skeleton.
Osteoporosis weakens bones because of a decrease in bone density.
The disease results in multiple fractures, which often leads to severe disability and complications that can even cause death. The decrease in bone density is because of internal destruction of bone tissue. Every person has tissue that continually rebuilds itself to adjust to changing mechanical loads. Specialized cells carry out both processes. The remodeling occurs in multiple minute foci and moves from site to site.