Hormone Secreted by Bones Regulates Male Fertility

A hormone that is secreted by bones could have a major influence in improving fertility, researchers from the Columbia University Medical Center suggest. Known as osteocalcin, the hormone is produced by the bones and is found to increase the production of the sex hormone, testosterone.

The researchers analyzed the effects of osteocalcin in male mice that were specially engineered to display a lack of the hormone.

The researchers found that as the levels of osteocalcin increased, the production of testosterone also increased. The researchers also wrote in their study that those mice that were deficient in osteocalcin produced half the number of litters when they bred with normal female mice. Low levels of osteocalcin were found to be linked with low fertility.

The details are published in the journal Cell.




Source-Medindia