A new study by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry indicates that aspirin offers a potential alternative to bisphophonates currently being used in treating and preventing osteoporosis.
In their mouse study, an aspirin regimen appeared to help the mice recover from osteoporosis, according to Songtao Shi, D.D.S., Ph.D., and Takayoshi Yamaza, D.D.S., Ph.D., of the USC School of Dentistry's Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology. They found that the drug seemed to prevent both improper bone resorption and the death of bone-forming stem cells.
An aspirin regimen has been linked in earlier epidemiological studies to better bone mineral density, but the mechanisms of its interactions in regards to bone health had not yet been studied extensively, Shi said.
The study appears in PLoS One (July 9, 2008, 3(7): e2615).
