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Shen (Kidney)-tonifying principle for primary osteoporosis: to treat both the disease and the Chinese medicine syndrome

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Abstract

Primary osteoporosis (POP) is one of the most common diseases in the elderly people resulting in high risk of fracture and poor quality of life. In addition to the pathological changes in bone mass, most of the POP patients also suffer from Chinese medicine (CM) syndromes of Shen (Kidney) essence deficiency. Shen essences are highly related to bone. Shen essence deficiency plays an important part in the development of POP and a better diagnosis of POP could be made by combining CM syndromes with Western medicine risk factors. Treatments of POP should aim at both increasing the bone mass and relieving the syndromes of Shen essence deficiency. Clinical study confirmed that treating POP patients with Shen-tonifying herbs could increase the bone mass and relieve the CM syndromes of POP patients. Basic researches clarified the mechanism by which Shen-tonifying herbs increased bone mass in animal models. The mechanisms by which Shentonifying herbs relieve the CM syndromes are still in investigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Bing Shu  (舒 冰), Qi Shi  (施 杞) & Yong-jun Wang  (王拥军)

  2. Spine Research Institute, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Bing Shu  (舒 冰), Qi Shi  (施 杞) & Yong-jun Wang  (王拥军)

Authors
  1. Bing Shu  (舒 冰)
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  2. Qi Shi  (施 杞)
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  3. Yong-jun Wang  (王拥军)
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qi Shi  (施 杞) or Yong-jun Wang  (王拥军).

Additional information

Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2010CB530400), the Program for Innovative Research Team in University (No, IRT1270), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81403239), Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (No. 12ZR1450400), and 085 Project of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. 085ZY1204)

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Shu, B., Shi, Q. & Wang, Yj. Shen (Kidney)-tonifying principle for primary osteoporosis: to treat both the disease and the Chinese medicine syndrome. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 21, 656–661 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-015-2306-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-015-2306-z

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