Binge drinking has long been associated with the slowing down of the healing process following a bone fracture and inevitably leading to weaker bones, according to a study the Chicago Tribune reported.
Recently, researchers at Loyola University Medical Center have tried to provide insights into how alcohol slows healing on cellular and molecular levels. Researchers found that too much alcohol blocks the access of a key protein needed to recruit stem cells needed to create a cartilage for healing.
Dr. Roman Natoli, an orthopedic surgery resident at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine and lead presenter of the study, told LiveScience that alcohol abuse is a "double-punch" problem for bone health.
"Many bone fractures are alcohol-related, due to car accidents, falls, shootings, etc.," Natoli said. "In addition to contributing to bone fractures, alcohol also impairs the healing process."
Researchers injected mice with a combined alcohol and saltwater solution for several days before they gave the rodents bone fractures. Mice in the control group were given equal amounts of saltwater solution, but without alcohol.
They observed that the mice that received the solution containing alcohol showed about 50 percent less protein needed to "recruit" stem cells needed for bone healing. They also had more oxidative stress which impairs healing.
John Callaci, a senior study author and assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation at Loyola University, told the Chicago Tribune alcohol could be preventing stem cells from differentiating into cartilage cells needed for fracture healing
"What we see in [animals given alcohol] is less of that material, and cells stay generally in a kind of undifferentiated state," Callucci said. "This study explored how alcohol may inhibit recruitment or homing of cells to the fracture site."
The researcher's findings could lead to treatments to improve bone healing in alcohol abusers and possibly non-drinkers as well.
As a follow up to this study, Natoli said he's interested in injecting mice with bone stem cells with an antioxidant that combats oxidative stress responsible for impairing bone healing, to see if that speeds up the healing process for mice exposed to alcohol.
