Osteoarthritis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Osteoarthritis, including details on treatment, symptoms, causes, medication.

Aging bone and cartilage: cross-cutting issues.

Carrington JL

Department of Health and Human Services, Biology of Aging Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. carringtonj@nia.nih.gov

Aging is a major risk factor for osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Yet, these are not necessary outcomes of aging, and the relationship between age-related changes in bone and cartilage and development of disease is not clear. There are some well-described cellular changes associated with aging in multiple tissues that appear to be fundamental to the decline in function of cartilage and bone. A better understanding of age-related changes in cells and tissues is necessary to mitigate or, hopefully, avoid loss of bone and cartilage with aging. In addition, a better understanding of the dynamics of tissue maintenance in vivo is critical to developing tissue replacement and repair therapies. The role of stem cells in this process, and why tissues are not well maintained with advancing age, are frontiers for future aging research.

Published 7 February 2005 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 328(3): 700-8.
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