WHY don’t marine animals get osteoporosis? Local scientists have found that the slightly alkaline environment of the ocean may be the secret.

Inspired by this, a team from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a kind of bioactive bone cement that can create a similar slightly alkaline environment in patients who suffer from osteoporosis, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

Taking spinal fracture repair as an example, a slew of ions are released by adding bioactive glass that is rich in trace elements such as strontium, magnesium and boron into the filling material, thus forming a slightly alkaline environment, said Pan Haobo, deputy head of the institute’s biomedicine and technology laboratory.

Pan said the bioactive bone cement can promote the regeneration of peripheral bone tissue, enable the filling and bone tissue to combine well, and reduce the risk of refracture at the fracture site.

The inspiration to develop the cement came from a bone density analysis Pan had made on a dolphin in Hong Kong Ocean Park back in 2007. “The dolphin was already 80 years old, but a CT scan showed that its bone structure was very complete and it didn’t have osteoporosis,” Pan said.

This can be attributed to the pH value and the strontium content in seawater, Pan said. Firstly, the pH value of seawater is slightly higher than that of human blood, and an alkaline environment promotes the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells.

Secondly, the strontium concentration in seawater is about 10 times higher than that on land. Under the dual effects, marine animals can effectively repair their bone metabolism imbalance and hardly ever get osteoporosis.

At present, the team’s bioactive bone cement has obtained four patents. It has also completed animal experiments on goats and mice, and passed ethical reviews by leading clinical institutions.

Additionally, the team has cooperated with a number of top-rated hospitals in China. The bone cement will formally be used in clinical experiments this June, and 200 surgeries are planned to be completed this year, according to Pan.

Apart from spinal fracture repair, the bioactive bone cement can also be used for joint replacement, tooth filling and osteoporosis prevention.

Pan said the bone cement has a very large market potential. According to data from the Chinese Medical Association, it is forecast that there will be 500,000 cases of spinal fracture repair and 1.4 million joint replacements by 2020.

“A traditional spinal fracture repair surgery costs about 26,000 yuan (US$3,871). The bioactive bone cement can effectively reduce costs,” Pan told the Daily. (Zhang Yu)