Bone Abstracts

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have a potential to differentiate to osteoblasts and adipocytes. Differentiation can be stimulated or inhibited by different growth factors, including fibroblast growth factors (FGFs). In this study we evaluated the effect of FGF2 on the osteoblastic and adipocytic differentiation of MSCs in vitro.Mouse MSC-derived cells were cultured in differentiation medium that led to differentiation to osteoblasts in 14 days ...

Disorders of glucose metabolism are associated with adverse skeletal effects. Hyperglycemia impairs the function of osteoblast-like cells but the mechanisms underlying glucose toxicity are poorly understood. In this study we determined the effect of elevated extracellular glucose levels on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC).Bone marrow cells were isolated from rat long bones, plastic-adherent MSCs were enr...

Background: Observations in rodents suggest that osteocalcin (OC) participates in glucose metabolism. Data from human studies are inconclusive and it remains unclear whether OC is simply a marker of bone turnover (BTM) or if it also mediates interactions between the skeleton and glucose homeostasis. This study determined the responses of BTMs, including OC, to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in obese and normal-weight subjects.Materials and methods: P...

Objective: Although obesity is a risk factor for vitamin D insufficiency, its impact on vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) concentration, and thereby possibly also on free 25OHD, is less well known. Our aim was to compare total and free serum 25OHD, and DBP concentrations between obese and normal-weight young adults at baseline, and their responses to cholecalciferol supplementation.Design: A 12 weeks’ randomized, double-blinded clinical trial.<p c...

Objectives: The skeleton and adipose tissue interact. Our aim was to evaluate the interactions between adipokines and bone metabolism, and their association with disease-related factors in patients with severe juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).Methods: The study included 49 patients (median age 14.8 years, median disease duration 10.2 years) with refractory polyarticular JIA and 89 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. The subjects underwent clinical ...

Vitamin K is a group name for a number of closely related compounds. Relevant structures for this presentation are phylloquinone (vitamin K1), menaquinone-4 (MK-4) and MK-7. The latter two are members of the vitamin K2 family. The function of all forms of vitamin K is to catalyze the formation of Gla-residues, which are strong calcium-binding groups and essential for the activity of the proteins in which they occur. For calcium metabolism three Gla-proteins are of particular i...

Poor vitamin K intake is associated with markedly increased cardiovascular risk and mortality. The molecular mechanism underlying this association is suggested to be the vitamin K-dependent carboxylation of vascular matrix Gla-protein (MGP), a potent calcification inhibitor. The carboxylation step is essential for its activation, and uncarboxylated MGP, produced during poor vitamin K status, is inactive.The IDS-iSYS inaKtiv MGP assay is the auto...

Pathophysiological calcification in the vasculature favours cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases. In patients with chronic kidney disease vitamin K metabolites are associated with decreased vascular calcification.We investigated the expression of vitamin K dependent proteins (VKDPs) in vessels and bone to identify differences in expression pattern during atherosclerosis (AS) stages and compare the two tissue profiles.Gene expressio...

Objective: Bone fractures are very common in children and their number is growing every year. Vitamin D has a proven role in the prevention of fractures. In the recent study, we have shown that children with low-energy fractures have significantly lower vitamin D blood levels compared to the children without fractures. Our data indicate that higher levels of vitamin D reduced the risk of fracture by 1.06 times (P<0.0005).Past decade has seen...

Gene deletion or treatments with a cathepsin K (CatK) inhibitor in mature preclinical models result not only result in lower bone resorption but also in higher bone formation (BF) on both remodeling and modeling surfaces. Although increased production of clastokines and matrix-derived growth factors may explain the increased BF at remodeling surfaces, the mechanisms for greater BF at modeling surfaces, including the periosteum, remain unexplained. We hypothesized that the abse...