Normal bone remodelling--what can go wrong in osteoporosis?

The skeleton is a metabolically active organ in constant change and renewal. Specialised cells are responsible for resorbing and synthetizing bone matrix. The process of bone remodelling, by removing old and damaged bone tissue and replacing it with new, is necessary for conserving the integrity of bone. In recent years, research has given new insight into the fine relationship between different cell types in bone tissue. This has enhanced our understanding of the pathophysiology behind osteoporosis and other metabolical bone diseases. This article gives a summary of our present knowledge of the normal cell biology of bone and what contributes to its regulation. How this helps the understanding of normal and pathological bone loss is illustrated. It is important to understand bone remodelling in order to interpret measurements of bone mineral density and biochemical markers accurately.