An Investigative Study Into the Relationship of Bone Morphogenetic Protein Antagonist Expression and Osteocyte Density by Region and Quadrant

The role of cytokines and cell behavior and viability with respect to bone remodeling and bone behavior is an exciting area of orthopedic research. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between BMP antagonist expression and osteocyte density, lacunar densities and osteocyte viability in cortical bone. Samples of unloaded tibial bone obtained from six C57Bl/6 mice were immunohistochemically stained for gremlin and noggin expression and also underwent methyl green staining to determine osteocyte presence. Bone sections were divided into four quadrants (cranial, caudal, medial and lateral) and three regions (proximal, mid shaft and distal), followed by analysis across these quadrants and regions. The results showed matching regional differences in gremlin expression with regional variations in osteocyte density, lacunar density, and osteocyte viability. These variations were supported by positive correlations found via regression analysis. Regression analysis also showed marginal negative correlations between noggin expression and osteocyte density and osteocyte viability, supported by regional ANOVA results. Further research on loaded bone samples is needed if the relationship between these BMP antagonists and osteocyte densities are to be fully explained with respect to the bone remodeling process.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biomedical and General Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Mosher, Scott C

Contributors dc:contributor

• Scott Hazelwood

• BMP
• noggin
• gremlin
• osteocyte density
• BMU
• Other Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2010.49

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-1292