Blast off for osteoblast experiment CMAJ 1997;156:757 © 1997 Canadian Medical Association A study to determine why astronauts lose bone mass while in space was launched -- literally -- last November by a senior medical student in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Kevin Forkheim's osteoporosis experiment was on board the space shuttle Columbia as part of a joint Canadian­Israeli initiative to study the metabolism and morphology of osteoblasts in microgravity. Forkheim says studies show that astronauts can lose up to 17% of their bone mass, depending on the duration of a mission. "The osteoporosis that occurs in microgravity is similar to the osteoporosis that occurs on Earth," says Forkheim, whose experiment compared bone cells exposed to microgravity with those subjected to similar conditions on Earth. Treating osteoporosis-related fractures costs the North American health care system an estimated $10 billion annually. Insights into the cause of osteoporosis may lead to a better understanding of the disease and more effective methods of treatment, according to Rick Knoll of Instrumentation Technology Associates, Inc., the US company that sponsored the osteoporosis experiment through its student-outreach program. Results of the experiment are not yet available. Forkheim's study was proposed at a meeting of the International Space University Summer Session Program, held in Vienna in 1996. Forkheim worked in collaboration with Dr. Eran Schenker, director of the Israel Aerospace Medicine Institute. -- D. Square Send a letter to the editor responding to this article Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cet article | CMAJ March 15, 1997 (vol 156, no 6) / JAMC le 15 mars 1997 (vol 156, no 6) |