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Published on: January 29, 2018
Nutrition and bone growth in pediatrics
Galia Gat-Yablonski1, Michal Yackobovitch-Gavan, Moshe Phillip
1The Jesse Z. and Sara Lea Shafer Institute for Endocrinology and Diabetes, National Center for Childhood Diabetes, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, 14 Kaplan Street, Petah Tikva 49202, Israel.
Adequate nutrition is essential for children's linear growth, impacting the growth plate. This study explores how nutritional factors, hormones, and local regulators influence this process, suggesting new regulatory factors may be involved.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Developmental Biology
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Children's linear growth is a key indicator of normal development.
- Nutrition significantly influences childhood growth, providing building blocks and regulatory factors.
- The growth plate is a critical site for longitudinal bone growth.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the growth processes of the growth plate.
- To discuss the role of nutrition-affected hormones in growth.
- To explore local regulators and nutritional factors in growth, and propose new regulatory mechanisms.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on growth plate development.
- Analysis of hormonal and local regulatory mechanisms affecting growth.
- Discussion of nutritional impacts on cellular and molecular pathways of growth.
Main Results:
- Growth plate development is influenced by a complex interplay of systemic and local factors.
- Nutritional status modulates the expression and function of key growth-related hormones and local regulators.
- Specific nutritional components and signaling pathways are critical for translating nutritional intake into linear growth.
Conclusions:
- Hormones and local factors significantly mediate the effects of nutrition on growth plate chondrocytes.
- Understanding these complex interactions is crucial for addressing growth disorders.
- Further research into novel regulatory factors may reveal new therapeutic targets for optimizing child growth.
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