ScienceDaily (Feb. 8, 2010) — An investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats reports an international team led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center, in the Feb. 7 issue of Nature Medicine. Serotonin in the gut has been shown in recent research to stall bone formation. The finding could lead to new therapies that build new bone; most current drugs for osteoporosis can only prevent the breakdown of old bone.
"New therapies that inhibit the production of serotonin in the gut have the potential to become a novel class of drugs to be added to the therapeutic arsenal against osteoporosis," said Gerard Karsenty, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, lead author of the paper. "With tens of millions of people worldwide affected by this devastating and debilitating bone loss, there is an urgent need for new treatments that not only stop bone loss, but also build new bone. Using these findings, we are working hard to develop this type of treatment for human patients."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100207145344.htmI would be ever so cautious when altering serotonin. Who knows? You might end up being "cured" of osteoporosis........but forever in a straight jacket.I'm thinking that perhaps that could be dangerous as well.... serotonin is the important for communications... but when I looked it up it says that 90% of what we have is found in the digestive tract.... going to that big brain little brain issue with the small "brain" being, as I've read, in the gut.......... It only takes a tiny change in serotonin in the brain to create calamity. Neurochemical balance is extremely delicate.