Bisphosphonate
organic compound which contains P-C-P bonds
Bisphosphonates are a class of drugs that prevent the loss of bone density. They are the most commonly prescribed to treat osteoporosis and similar diseases.
Specifically, there is evidence that shows they may reduce the risk of fracture in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis.
Bone tissue undergoes constant remodeling and is kept in balance (homeostasis) by osteoblasts creating bone and osteoclasts destroying bone. Bisphosphonates inhibit the digestion of bone by encouraging osteoclasts to undergo apoptosis, or cell death, thereby slowing bone loss.
The uses of bisphosphonates include the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, Paget's disease of bone, bone metastasis (with or without hypercalcemia), multiple myeloma, primary hyperparathyroidism, osteogenesis imperfecta, fibrous dysplasia, and other conditions that exhibit bone fragility.
Chemical structure and mechanistic aspects
The term bisphosphonate refers to the presence two phosphonate (PO2(OH)−) groups. They are also called diphosphonates (bis- or di- + phosphonate). The PO2(OH)− groups readily lose an additional proton, giving (PO2−3 groups, which have a particularly high affinity for metal ions.
They are structurally close analogues of pyrophosphate (abbreviated PPi)..
The public source identifies “Bisphosphonate” as organic compound which contains P-C-P bonds. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bisphosphonate, organic and compound.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bisphosphonate” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.