According to a study conducted on mice, social isolation can affect bone health, especially that of men.
- According to a study presented at the Endocrine Society conference in Chicago, social isolation can have a negative impact on bone health.
- Work carried out on mice for 4 weeks indicates that only the bone health of males would be affected by this negative effect.
- The researchers plan to conduct new experiments to “understand how these findings translate to human populations.”
Social isolation is a reality that affects a growing number of people around the world. The Covid-19 pandemic and the containment measures put in place to limit the spread of the disease have highlighted this problem. However, this loneliness, which causes significant psychosocial stress, can have many undesirable effects on the body, such as promoting mental health problems and cardiovascular diseases or an increased risk of premature death. But the list doesn’t end there… a new study shows that social isolation also impacts the bones.
Isolation social : reduced bone density in males
The work was carried out by researchers from the Maine Health Institute for Research (USA) and presented at the annual conference ENDO 2023 tenuous from June 15 to 18, 2023. Scientists exposed adult mice to social isolation, i.e. one rodent per cage, while others were in group housing (four per cage). These housing conditions were maintained for four weeks, after which the quality of the rodents’ bones was measured.
The results showed that in the socially isolated males, a reduction in bone quality was manifested, with in particular a lower bone mineral density. In females, however, no impact was observed.
“Overall, our data suggest that social isolation has a dramatic negative effect on bone in male mice, but it may work through different mechanisms or in a different time frame in females,” indicates the Pr Rebecca mountainthe lead author of the study, in a communicated.
Loss bone and loneliness: future research is needed to better understand
The expert and her team hope to continue their research in the future and explore the effects of social isolation on human health. Among other things, they want to understand the mechanisms underlying the bone loss observed in male mice and to check whether they are also observed in humans.
“Our work provides critical insights into the effects of isolation on bone and has key clinical implications as we grapple with the long-term health effects of increased social isolation related to Covid-19 pandemic”explains the scientist in the press release sent by Newswise.
