Bone Abstracts

Hypoparathyroidism is a disorder characterized by hypocalcemia, low or absent parathyroid hormone (PTH), and abnormal bone remodeling. The diagnosis is made in the setting of hypocalcemia with markedly reduced or absent PTH levels. Postoperative hypoparathyroidism is the most common etiology. Other causes of hypoparathyroidism include autoimmune disease and rarely, congenital syndromes of parathyroid dysgenesis such as DiGeorge syndrome. Standard treatment of hypoparathyroidis...

Steroids are currently used to improve muscle strength and prolong ambulation in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) although the effect on bone health is still unclear. The aim of this study was to compare bone strength in healthy children and boys with DMD and investigate the interaction between diminished muscle function, loss of ambulation and high dose oral steroids.Fifty children were studied, 14 healthy boys (HB), 13 boys with DMD who rema...

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Rationale: Mice deficient in osteocalcin show an impaired glucose tolerance, however, the exact mechanism involved have yet to be fully elucidated. We aimed to overexpress osteocalcin to determine its effect on glucose homeostasis and explore the signalling pathway involved. We wished to expand upon previous preliminary data suggesting that this pathway involve neuropeptide Y (NPY) signalling.Objective: To analyse the in vivo and in vitro</e...

Osteoclasts are produced by fusion of pre-osteoclasts derived from stem cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage in the presence of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) produced by osteoblasts. The phytoestrogens; genistein and daidzein, which are isoflavones found in Leguminosae such as soybeans, are currently being investigated for prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Some polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been shown to exert a bone protectiv...

Understanding normal patterns of bone growth is important for optimising bone health in children and reducing osteoporotic fractures in later life. Recently published guidelines for bone assessment in children state that to predict fractures a technique should identify children at risk of clinically significant fractures and that dual-energy absorptiometry (DXA) is the preferred method of assessment. Despite these guidelines there is still inconsistency and lack of consensus r...

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is used to stimulate bone formation in osteoporotic patients, however concerns have been raised about the quality of the matrix produced since lower levels of total matrix mineral have been reported in osteoporotic and fracture patients treated with PTH. High resolution synchrotron-based Fourier Transform Infrared Microscopy (sFTIRM) was used to determine mineral content in age-matched bone during anabolic PTH treatment, using the simplified lamellar ...

Objective: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with lower bone mass in children. Physical activity and nutrition influence bone pathophysiology, and differences in these lifestyle factors are observed between children with vs. without ASD; however, whether these factors contribute to bone differences is unknown. We examined if: 1) differences existed in bone mineral density (BMD), content (BMC), or bone geometry in boys with vs without ASD and 2) whether physical acti...

Sclerostin is a major negative regulator of osteoblastic activity. Serum sclerostin has a weak positive association with BMD but contradictory results have been described concerning associations with fractures. These contradictions could be explained by the fact that serum sclerostin does not reflect its action in bone. In this study we question whether serum sclerostin is associated with its expression in bone. In addition we aimed to detect associations between sclerostin in...

Human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSC) have been investigated as a clinical therapy to promote tissue repair. However, the disappearance of grafted cells soon after engraftment suggests that hMSC could principally act as initiators of repair through paracrine mechanisms.The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative contribution of grafted hMSC and host cells in promoting bone tissue repair. We isolated hMSC from three bone marrow (BM) donors, then d...