Biology subjects

Windahl, S. H.

Publications and source records attributed to Windahl, S. H..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP/ACP5) sex-specifically regulates bone maintenance in old mice, but the anabolic effects of mechanical loading is regulated in a sex-independent way

Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP/ACP5), primarily known as an osteoclast marker, has emerged as a critical regulator of skeletal integrity, regulating sex-specific bone growth, and bones response to mechanical load in young adult male mice. In this study, we investigated the sex-specific roles of TRAP in bone structure and response to mechanical stimuli in old (19-month-old) wild-type (WT) and TRAP-deficient (TRAP-/-) mice using micro-computed tomography, serum bone turnover markers, in vivo axial mechanical loading, and in vitro mechanotransduction assays. Our findings revealed that TRAP-/- mice of both sexes maintained shorter tibiae than WT mice independent of sex. Notably, male, but not female, TRAP-/- mice have increased trabecular bone volume fraction and cortical bone area compared to WT, indicative of disrupted bone remodelling processes in male mice. Interestingly, TRAP-deficiency substantially impaired the anabolic bone response to mechanical loading, affecting both trabecular and cortical compartments in both sexes, indicating that when challenged, TRAP is important for bone formation also in female mice. Mechanical stimulation in vitro of hematopoietic progenitor cells from WT and TRAP-/- mice revealed that the increased ATP-release in response to mechanical stimulation was only disrupted in male mice, while mechanically induced increase in osteoclast formation was inhibited in TRAP-/- mice of both sexes. These results highlight the importance of TRAP in maintaining trabecular architecture and cortical bone in male mice and underscore its critical function in mediating adaptive responses to mechanical loading of both sexes, during aging. Future investigations should focus on elucidation of TRAP-dependent pathways as potential therapeutic targets to counteract age-related deficits in bone adaptation and remodelling.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Cortical bone gain following loading is site-specifically enhanced by prior and concurrent disuse in aged male mice

The primary aim of bone anabolic therapies is to strategically increase bone mass in skeletal regions likely to experience high strains. This is naturally achieved by mechanical loading of the young healthy skeleton. However, these bone anabolic responses fail with age. Here, we applied site specificity analysis to map regional differences in bone anabolic responses to axial loading of the tibia (tri-weekly, for two weeks) between young (19-week-old) and aged (19-month-old), male and female mice. Loading increased bone mass specifically in the proximal tibia in both sexes and ages. Young female mice gained more cortical bone than young males in specific regions of the tibia. However, these site-specific sex difference were lost with age such that bone gain following loading was not significantly different between old males and females. Having previously demonstrated that prior and concurrent disuse enhances bone gain following loading in old females, we established whether this \"rescue\" is sex-specific. Old male mice were subjected to sciatic neurectomy or sham surgery, and tri-weekly loading was initiated four days after surgery. Disuse augmented cortical bone gain in response to loading in old male mice, but only in the regions of the tibia which were load-responsive in the young. Increased understanding of how locally-activated load-responsive processes lead to site-specific bone formation, and how the age-related diminution of these processes can be site-specifically enhanced by disuse, may lead to the next generation of strategic bone anabolic therapies.\n\nHighlightsO_LISex differences in cortical tissue area of young and old mice are not site-specific\nC_LIO_LIThe loading response in young, but not old, mice is sex- and site-specific\nC_LIO_LIThe cortical loading response is site-specifically enhanced by disuse in old mice of both sexes\nC_LIO_LIThe trabecular loading response can be rescued by disuse in old male, but not female, mice\nC_LI

physiology↗