Hello once again!

This is your host Ralph Sanchez, and welcome to episode #22 and indeed, it has been much too long between this episode and the last one.

I have been busy with new book projects on the key underlying risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease that are unique to women.

I’ll have an announcement on when those books will be available here soon, and frankly, I'm looking forward to doing so.

And on that note, I have in store for you another special episode today in which I’ll present the evidence and the rationale for the bone-heart-brain axis as it pertains to an increased risk for dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), and why age-related bone loss may be an indicator of an increased risk for LOAD.

Bone is an endocrine organ

Several key studies over the past 15 to 20 years have demonstrated that the human skeleton is an endocrine organ that bidirectionally communicates with our brain and our gut and other organs.

Normally, one may think of typical endocrine organs such as the pancreas, thyroid or pituitary gland which produce and release hormones that regulate a myriad of functions in the body and brain.

Well, the same can be said for bone, which secretes the hormones—FGF23 (Fibroblast growth factor-23) and osteocalcin—a peptide hormone.

So let's dive right in to that osteocalcin overview.

Osteocalcin—Heart and Brain Health

To begin with, a seminal study published in 2007 by Dr. Gerard Karsenty, has set in motion numerous studies since which have expanded on these endocrine and metabolic linkages between a form of osteocalcin—uncarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC)—and other organs.

Indeed, bone cells (osteoblasts) secrete a form of a bone protein/hormone—osteocalcin (and others)—which is normally associated with the maintenance of bone mass, and it also functions as a key protein/hormone in the crosstalk and regulation of physiological pathways between bone

A modified form of osteocalcin, uncarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), easily crosses the blood brain barrier, and it has been shown to an essential hormone in fetal brain development, and in the regulation of mood and cognition throughout life.

Uncarboxylated osteocalcin that is associated with insulin resistance and cardiometabolic disease (metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes).

Uncarboxlated osteocalcin in turn regulates insulin secretion in pancreatic islet cells which underlies the regulation of glucose homeostasis by bone.

Thus, this bone-insulin dynamic is termed the bone-pancreas endocrine loop.

In a collaborative research effort and study published in 2017, Dr. Eric R. Kandel, a Nobel laureate (Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2000)  and senior researcher at Columbia University / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Dr. Karsenty, reported on a key hippocampal receptor— Gpr-158—that binds with osteocalcin and mediates hippocampal memory formation.

The study also reported another significant finding with regard to the benefit of how osteocalcin mediated “a molecular pathway critical for hippocampal-dependent memory” by stimulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) transport to the synapses of hippocampus.

So much more with regard to the role of osteocalcin and uncarboxylated in part 1 of this bone-heart-brain axis episode, so please listen in for the rest of the story.

Episode #2 of the Bone-Heart-Brain Axis will be available soon so please look for it as it will include additional insights into this fascinating and important research and science.

God bless and goodbye.

BrainDefend®

Ralph Sanchez, MTCM, CNS, D.Hom.
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