title: Shen (Kidney)-tonifying principle for primary osteoporosis: to treat both the disease and the Chinese medicine syndrome.
abstract: Primary osteoporosis (POP) is one of the most common diseases in the elderly people resulting in high risk of fracture and poor quality of life. In addition to the pathological changes in bone mass, most of the POP patients also suffer from Chinese medicine (CM) syndromes of Shen (Kidney) essence deficiency. Shen essences are highly related to bone. Shen essence deficiency plays an important part in the development of POP and a better diagnosis of POP could be made by combining CM syndromes with Western medicine risk factors. Treatments of POP should aim at both increasing the bone mass and relieving the syndromes of Shen essence deficiency. Clinical study confirmed that treating POP patients with Shen-tonifying herbs could increase the bone mass and relieve the CM syndromes of POP patients. Basic researches clarified the mechanism by which Shen-tonifying herbs increased bone mass in animal models. The mechanisms by which Shentonifying herbs relieve the CM syndromes are still in investigation.
authors.affiliation: Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China.|Spine Research Institute, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China. shiqish@hotmail.com.|Spine Research Institute, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China. shiqish@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China. yjwang8888@126.com.|Spine Research Institute, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China. yjwang8888@126.com.
authors.forename: Yong-jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology*; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Chinese medicine; Shen (Kidney) essence deficiency; Shen (Kidney)-tonifying herbs; primary osteoporosis; syndrome