Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a biological process that may explain why some childhood bone injuries permanently disrupt growth, and they found a way to interrupt it in mice using a drug already approved for other uses.
The finding concerns growth plates, the soft cartilage regions near the ends of children's long bones where new bone is produced. When a growth plate is injured, a bridge of solid bone sometimes forms across it. That structure, called a bony bar, can tether the bone and cause it to grow short or crooked.
