[Bone following the menopause]

Bone is a tissue undergoing permanent remodeling, submitted to the influence of endocrine and local (or paracrine) factors. After reaching a peak, bone mass decline physiologically with age, showing a more important decrease during early postmenopausal years. Bone remodeling tightly couples bone resorption due to osteoclasts to bone formation due to osteoblasts. Both osteoclasts and osteoblasts originate from bone marrow and therefore synthesize and respond to common cytokines such as interleukin 1, 6, 11 or to growth factors as colony stimulating factors (CSF). The understanding of the mechanisms that regulate osteoclasts and osteoblasts activation both in physiological situation or during the loss of gonadal functions is in progress. In the next future, it would be possible to give a more efficient and rational therapy than today.