In the face of imminent danger, our bones release an essential hormone for our survival

In the face of imminent danger, our bones release an essential hormone for our survival

Scientists already knew that in case of danger, humans and animals have the reflex of "fight or flight", motivated by hormones released by the adrenal glands and by the nerve pathways directly related to the brain. But our bones would also have this faculty.

osteocalcin
In a recent study published in Cell Metabolism on Thursday, September 12, 2019, researchers at Columbia University and Melbourne University discovered that bones also release a hormone when faced with imminent danger. This hormone released by the bones is called osteocalcin. Gerard Karsenty, a researcher at Columbia University, and his colleagues found that this hormone helped coordinate our fight or flight response.


You have to know that in the face of a sudden threat, our heart and respiratory rate, our blood pressure, our blood sugar and even our body temperature increase to prepare our muscles to fight or to flee. The researchers found that blood levels of osteocalcin increased rapidly in humans during stressful speech, but also in mice and rats when they were tied up, shocked or exposed to heat. smell of fox urine.

OUR OS MAY HAVE EVOLVED TO PROTECT US FROM EXTREME DANGER
Other research on mice has also revealed that this increase in osteocalcin levels causes the body's rest and digestion functions to be stopped in order to allow the body to prepare for combat or flight. These results follow previous research by the group showing that bones release osteocalcin to help muscles burn calories during exercise, and injections of this hormone into older mice rejuvenate their muscles.

According to Karsenty, quoted by New Scientist, these results suggest that we must rethink the way we look at our bones. If, before, our skeleton seemed to be an essentially inert structure, this study reveals that our bones may have evolved to protect us from extreme danger by activating the fight or flight response, by optimizing muscle function, providing the structural framework necessary for movement and escape and forming a protective cage around our organs. Our organization has different ways of preparing us to face the danger

However, scientists wonder why the body has three pathways through which the option of escape or combat is activated: via bones, direct nerve pathways and adrenal glands.

According to Robin McAllen of the University of Melbourne, this may be to prevent the dysfunction of one of the tracks. It turns out that this reaction of flight or fight is still active, even in people with defective adrenal glands and mice lacking adrenal glands.