Ibuprofen improves bone repair after break

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GRANADA, Spain, July 7 (UPI) -- A therapeutic dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug -- ibuprofen -- improves bone repair after a fracture or surgery, researchers in Spain found.

Concepcion Ruiz Rodriguez, a professor at the University of Granada Nursing Department, said a therapeutic dose of ibuprofen had no negative effects on the proliferation and synthesis of obsteoblast osteocalcin -- a cell which is directly involved in the formation and regeneration of bones.

Osteoblast cells are bone cells that synthesize the bone matrix. Consequently, osteoblasts play a major role in bone development, growth, maintenance and repair, Rodriguez said.

"The results indicate that a therapeutic dose of ibuprofen has no adverse effects on growth of the osteoblast-like cells," the study authors said in the study. "Treatment with ibuprofen alone may produce some cell activation, which would explain the increase in expression of membrane markers and decrease in phagocytic capacity."

The findings were published in the Journal of bone and mineral metabolism.