The Bone Metabolism Laboratory provides infrastructure for studies related to bone metabolism through the analysis of bone mineral density and bone microarchitecture parameters. These analyses are possible through image acquisition using the bone densitometry equipment installed in our laboratory unit (HOLOGIC-Discovery model and GE–iDXA model, acquired through funding from FAPESP and FINEP, respectively). Additionally, the equipment is able to perform body composition analysis through full-body image capture, often used in longitudinal studies evaluating obese individuals undergoing bariatric surgery, as well as in studies evaluating muscle mass and fat mass in patients participating in physical exercise.
The bone densitometry equipment has software to evaluate vertebral fracture, bone mass in children, and software able to evaluate bone microarchitecture by assessing the trabecular bone score (TBS).
The laboratory unit also has high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography equipment (HR-pQCT), acquired through FAPESP financing, that allows non-invasive three-dimensional evaluation of density and bone structure parameters. More recently, also through funding from FAPESP, the unit has implemented high-resolution equipment for bone histomorphometry analysis from bone biopsy, with infrastructure for the processing of bone fragments to final analysis.
These methodologies are widely used by medical and non-medical graduate students in the areas of rheumatology, cardiology, nephrology, gastroenterology, physical education, endocrinology in working collaboratively. In addition to the imaging area, the laboratory has infrastructure for studies in the area of cellular biology using a methodology developed for the culture of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, and for studies associated with molecular biology and genetics with a structure for performing RNA and DNA extraction, PCR and sequencing.