Bone Abstracts

Bone fractures can be a serious and frequent problem for patients suffering from osteoporosis, metastatic bone cancer and congenital bone disorders. The promotion of new bone formation and mineralization can facilitate healing and stronger union of fractured bones. Our laboratory has identified important developmental roles of sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 3 (SMPD3), which include the promotion of apoptosis of hypertrophic chondrocytes and mineralization of cartilage and bon...

Osteoblasts produce protein-crosslinking enzymes, transglutaminase 2 (TG2) and factor XIIIA (FXIIIA), which regulate fibronectin matrix stabilization and osteoblast differentiation in vitro. To examine if they are important in bone remodeling and in maintenance of bone quality and mass in vivo, we performed skeletal phenotyping of Tgm2−/− and F13a1−/− mice and generated a double-null Tgm2</em...