Journal
SMALL
Volume 13, Issue 3, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201602215
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Funding
- Partnership for Innovation, Education and Research (PIER-Nanosciences, Hamburg) [PIF-2014-28]
- European Union Seventh Framework Program [FP7] [280566]
- Alexander von Humboldt Founation fellowship program
- South-East-Europe Cooperation of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
- Serbian Ministry of Education and Science [III 45005]
- German Research Community (DFG) Research Training Group [GRK1896]
- DFG - Emmy Noether program [BU 2562/2-1]
- project UnivSEM
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Osteocytes-the central regulators of bone remodeling-are enclosed in a network of microcavities (lacunae) and nanocanals (canaliculi) pervading the mineralized bone. In a hitherto obscure process related to aging and disease, local plugs in the lacuno-canalicular network disrupt cellular communication and impede bone homeostasis. By utilizing a suite of high-resolution imaging and physics-based techniques, it is shown here that the local plugs develop by accumulation and fusion of calcified nanospherites in lacunae and canaliculi (micropetrosis). Two distinctive nanospherites phenotypes are found to originate from different osteocytic elements. A substantial deviation in the spherites' composition in comparison to mineralized bone further suggests a mineralization process unlike regular bone mineralization. Clearly, mineralization of osteocyte lacunae qualifies as a strong marker for degrading bone material quality in skeletal aging. The understanding of micropetrosis may guide future therapeutics toward preserving osteocyte viability to maintain mechanical competence and fracture resistance of bone in elderly individuals.
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