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Bone strain magnitude is correlated with bone strain rate in tetrapods: implications for models of mechanotransduction.

ABSTRACT: Hypotheses suggest that structural integrity of vertebrate bones is maintained by controlling bone strain magnitude via adaptive modelling in response to mechanical stimuli. Increased tissue-level strain magnitude and rate have both been identified as potent stimuli leading to increased bone formation. Mechanotransduction models hypothesize that osteocytes sense bone deformation by detecting fluid flow-induced drag in the bone's lacunar-canalicular porosity. This model suggests that the osteocyte's intracellular response depends on fluid-flow rate, a product of bone strain rate and gradient, but does not provide a mechanism for detection of strain magnitude. Such a mechanism is necessary for bone modelling to adapt to loads, because strain magnitude is an important determinant of skeletal fracture. Using strain gauge data from the limb bones of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, we identified strong correlations between strain rate and magnitude across clades employing diverse locomotor styles and degrees of rhythmicity. The breadth of our sample suggests that this pattern is likely to be a common feature of tetrapod bone loading. Moreover, finding that bone strain magnitude is encoded in strain rate at the tissue level is consistent with the hypothesis that it might be encoded in fluid-flow rate at the cellular level, facilitating bone adaptation via mechanotransduction.

SUBMITTER: Aiello BR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4590470 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bone strain magnitude is correlated with bone strain rate in tetrapods: implications for models of mechanotransduction.

Aiello B R BR Iriarte-Diaz J J Blob R W RW Butcher M T MT Carrano M T MT Espinoza N R NR Main R P RP Ross C F CF

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20150701 1810

Hypotheses suggest that structural integrity of vertebrate bones is maintained by controlling bone strain magnitude via adaptive modelling in response to mechanical stimuli. Increased tissue-level strain magnitude and rate have both been identified as potent stimuli leading to increased bone formation. Mechanotransduction models hypothesize that osteocytes sense bone deformation by detecting fluid flow-induced drag in the bone's lacunar-canalicular porosity. This model suggests that the osteocyt ...[more]

PMID: 26063842

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Project description:BackgroundThe Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway is involved in essential cell processes and it is abnormally activated in ~30 % of cancers and cognitive disorders. Two ERK isoforms have been described, ERK1 and ERK2; ERK2 being regarded by many as essential due to the embryonic lethality of ERK2 knock-out mice, whereas mice lacking ERK1 are viable and fertile. The controversial question of why we have two ERKs and whether they have differential functions or display functional redundancy has not yet been resolved.ResultsTo investigate this question we used a novel approach based on comparing the evolution of ERK isoforms' sequences and protein expression across vertebrates. We gathered and cloned erk1 and erk2 coding sequences and we examined protein expression of isoforms in brain extracts in all major clades of vertebrate evolution. For the first time, we measured each isoforms' relative protein level in phylogenetically distant animals using anti-phospho antibodies targeting active ERKs. We demonstrate that squamates (lizards, snakes and geckos), despite having both genes, do not express ERK2 protein whereas other tetrapods either do not express ERK1 protein or have lost the erk1 gene. To demonstrate the unexpected squamates' lack of ERK2 expression, we targeted each ERK isoform in lizard primary fibroblasts by specific siRNA-mediated knockdown. We also found that undetectable expression of ERK2 in lizard is compensated by a greater strength of lizard's erk1 promoter. Finally, phylogenetic analysis revealed that ERK1 amino acids sequences evolve faster than ERK2's likely due to genomic factors, including a large difference in gene size, rather than from functional differences since amino acids essential for function are kept invariant.ConclusionsERK isoforms appeared by a single gene duplication at the onset of vertebrate evolution at least 400 Mya. Our results demonstrate that tetrapods can live by expressing either one or both ERK isoforms, supporting the notion that ERK1/2 act interchangeably. Substrate recognition sites and catalytic cleft are nearly invariant in all vertebrate ERKs further suggesting functional redundancy. We suggest that future ERK research should shift towards understanding the role and regulation of total ERK quantity, especially in light of newly described erk2 gene amplification identified in tumors.

Project description:BackgroundThe key focal adhesion protein β1 integrin plays an essential role in early skeletal development. However, roles of β1 integrin expression in osteocytes during the regulation of bone homeostasis and mechanotransduction are incompletely understood.Materials and methodsTo study the in vivo function of osteocyte β1 integrin in bone, we utilized the 10-kb Dmp1 (Dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1)-Cre to generate mice with β1 integrin deletion in this cell type. Micro-computerized tomography, bone histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry were performed to determine the effects of osteocyte β1 integrin loss on bone mass accrual and biomechanical properties. In vivo tibial loading model was applied to study the possible involvement of osteocyte β1 integrin in bone mechanotransduction.ResultsLoss of β1 integrin expression in osteocytes resulted in a severe low bone mass and impaired biomechanical properties in load-bearing long bones and spines, but not in non-weight-bearing calvariae, in mice. The loss of β1 integrin led to enlarged size of lacunar-canalicular system, abnormal cell morphology, and disorientated nuclei in osteocytes. Furthermore, β1 integrin loss caused shortening and disorientated collagen I fibers in long bones. Osteocyte β1 integrin loss did not impact the osteoclast activities, but significantly reduced the osteoblast bone formation rate and, in the meantime, enhanced the adipogenic differentiation of the bone marrow stromal cells in the bone microenvironment. In addition, tibial loading failed to accelerate the anabolic bone formation and improve collagen I fiber integrity in mutant mice.ConclusionsOur studies demonstrate an essential role of osteocyte β1 integrin in regulating bone homeostasis and mechanotransduction. The transnational potential of this article : This study reveals the regulatory roles of osteocyte β1 integrin in vivo for the maintenance of bone mass accrual, biomechanical properties, extracellular matrix integrity as well as bone mechanobiology, which defines β1 integrin a potential therapeutic target for skeletal diseases, such as osteoporosis.

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Bone strain magnitude is correlated with bone strain rate in tetrapods: implications for models of mechanotransduction.

Publications

Bone strain magnitude is correlated with bone strain rate in tetrapods: implications for models of mechanotransduction.

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