Bone Abstracts

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays an important role in bone metabolism and regulates fracture healing in a presently unknown process. In the fracture callus IL-6 expression is biphasic; it peaks during the inflammatory phase and again during intramembranous and endochondral ossification (Ai-Aql et al. 2008). Few studies using IL-6 knockout mice indicate that IL-6 might be crucial for bone healing (Yang et al. 2007). However, a generalized IL-6 knockout induces multi...

Chronic calcium- and vitamin-D-deficiencies are crucial risk factors for osteoporosis. However, their significance for fracture healing is still poorly investigated, despite the clinical evidence that osteoporotic bone healing is disturbed. This study addressed the important question, whether chronic deprivation of calcium and vitamin D compromises bone repair and if this could be rescued by a supplementation post-trauma. Because clinical hints suggest that a fracture induces ...

Previous studies demonstrated a negative influence of the growth- and differentiation factor midkine (MDK) on bone formation during bone remodeling and fracture healing. Additionally, MDK-deficiency protected mice from a loss of trabecular bone mass after ovariectomy (OVX). Therefore, we hypothesized that MDK may also be involved in the pathogenesis of delayed, osteoporotic fracture healing after OVX in mice. Thus, we analyzed the expression of MDK during bone regeneration and...