Osteocytes as multifunctional cells.
2006; National Institutes of Health; Volume: 6; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
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Bone health and treatments
ResumoBone is often thought of as being a passive, inactive tissue like a skeleton hanging in the anatomy lab. Often, bone tissue is envisioned statically in terms of two dimensions similar to a ‘shapshot’ of a histology slide. However, quite to the contrary, bone undergoes considerable turnover as compared to other organs in the body. Modeling during growth is dramatic and even in adult bone, 2–5% turnover per year occurs in the long bone and 30% in alveolar bone. Any experimental approach can bias or have an effect on human interpretations of biological processes and events. Scientists should always be constantly asking how our perceptions are being modified by our experimental approaches. Bone biologists can easily visualize in vitro and in vivo the dynamic nature of osteoclasts with their resorption lacunae and rapid removal of bone, which occurs relatively rapidly in days. Osteoblasts are less dynamic, with new bone formation occurring in weeks. Many individuals still view the osteocyte as being a passive, inactive cell that merely acts as a ‘place holder’ in bone. Again, this perspective has most likely been perpetuated by histological approaches to the study of bone. Decades ago there were pioneers in the bone field who proposed that the osteocyte is not a passive cell, but a cell with the potential to have several functions. Credit is given to several of these pioneers below, while contrasting with most recent advances due to the availability of state of the art technology.
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