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Bone Abstracts (2016) 5 P31 | DOI: 10.1530/boneabs.5.P31

ECTS2016 Poster Presentations Bone biomechanics and quality (21 abstracts)

Site specific bone loss induced by spaceflight in mice: a multiscale evaluation of trabecular and cortical structure and quality

Maude Gerbaix 1, , Vasily Gnyubkin 2 , Farlay Delphine 3 , Follet Helene 3 , Ammann Patrick 4 , Olivier Cécile 5 , Peyrin Françoise 5 , Laroche Norbert 2 , Shenkman Boris 6 , Gauquelin-Koch Guillemette 1 & Vico Laurence 2


1Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Paris, France; 2INSERM U1059, Biologie du Tissu Osseux, Université de Lyon, Saint Etienne, France; 3INSERM U1033, Lyos, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France; 4Service des maladies osseuses, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG), Genève, Switzerland; 5CNRS UMR5220, INSERM U1044, INSA-Lyon, Villeurbanne, France; 6Institute for Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.


Intrinsic quality, micro and nano structure of bone after 1 month of spaceflight and during 1 week of recovery had never been investigated. The aim was to explore these properties in appendicular and axial skeleton of mature mice.

Ten C57/Bl6 male mice flew on the 30-day space Russian BION-M1 high-orbit satellite mission (Biomedical Ethics Commission of IBMP, n°319). Five were euthanized 12 h after landing, the others 8 days later. A ground control group was kept in the same conditions as in flight (housing, food and climate).

Body weight, soleus muscle mass, and femur length were not significantly different between groups.

In the femur, microgravity significantly decreased trabecular BV/TV (−65% vs Ctr) (micro-CT), increased trabecular and periosteal TRAP+ osteoclast surfaces and marrow adiposity (X22 vs Ctr), and decreased Ct.Th (−5.4% vs Ctr). Nano-indentation analysis indicated that cortical modulus, hardness and working energy were significantly decreased whereas the degree of mineralization (micro radiography) was not affected by microgravity. Microgravity did not affect cortical osteocyte lacuna density but decreased their mean 3D volume (Synchrotron Radiation nanotomography, n>8000 lacunae per sample). Eight days after landing, osteoclast cell surface were restored but trabecular BV/TV and Ct.Th remained lower than Ctr group.

In vertebrae, microgravity significantly decreased BV/TV (−36% vs Ctr) and the modulus in the younger mineralized matrix which tended to increase after recovery. Degree of mineralization, mineral and collagen intrinsic quality (infra-red spectroscopy) were not changed by microgravity.

To summarize, microgravity severely decreased bone mass, altered bone structure and intrinsic mechanical properties in both sites and increased femoral marrow adiposity. One week after landing, these properties tended to be rescued in vertebrae but remained altered in the femur despite normalized osteoclastic cell surfaces. The decrease of osteocyte lacunar volume suggests the existence of an intra-cortical bone preservation mechanism in absence of mechanical loading.

Volume 5

43rd Annual European Calcified Tissue Society Congress

Rome, Italy
14 May 2016 - 17 May 2016

European Calcified Tissue Society 

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