GIP: Hormone against gravity

2001/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

Astronauts, due to their lack of gravity, suffer a series of long-term consequences. Among other things, the density of the bones of your body decreases and when you return to Earth you risk fracture. In fact, when the gravitational force is small, the bone disappears somehow faster than it occurs.

The same happens with age, as the ability to flow from the hormone that is responsible for forming the bones is lost. In order to solve this problem, researchers from the US Georgia Medical School have used transgenic rats to analyze the behavior of the hormone secreting GIP (glucose dependent insulinotropic peptide). According to researchers, this hormone, along with insulin, is responsible for strengthening the bones.

When we eat something, GIP and insulin flow four times faster than normal. However, the behavior of both hormones is different. GIP hormones, after flowing four times faster, do not rapidly descend to the initial concentration. This hormone lasts longer and appears to excite osteoblasts (basic bone substance, osteine, the young cell that forms it) and deactivates osteoclasts (the large cell that destroys the persistent bone substance).

Now, they will send the transgenic rat generated in the laboratory into space and contrast their behavior with the most common rat. If better results are obtained with GMOs, scientists believe that it is possible to inject synthetic GIP hormones into astronauts, or they can simply be given foods that stimulate the production of this hormone (carbohydrates, proteins and fats).