Contribution of genetic and environmental factors on osteocyte mineralization
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Abstract
As the rates of osteoporosis continue to rise, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors contributing to disease development and progression. Innate factors such as age, sex, and race significantly impact the likelihood of developing osteoporosis. Acquired factors such as BMI, smoking status, and renal disease have also been shown to impact bone growth and stability. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects these factors have on osteogenic cell growth.
It was hypothesized that primary cultures of human osteogenic cells will be more affected by comorbidities present at the time of harvest. As the cultures expand and homogenize the impact of the innate and acquired factors should dissipate. To examine this hypothesis primary marrow stromal cultures grown under osteogenic conditions were compared to secondary cultures grown under the same conditions. Specific biochemical features of the cultures that were compared, were the overall growth of the cultures based on their DNA contents, and DNA normalized values of Alkaline Phosphate (ALP) activity, protein, calcium, and hydroxyproline. Osteogenic phenotypic properties were further assessed, by assaying the specific mRNA expression of osteogenic lineage stage specific genes. Although there were no significant differences between the primary and secondary cultures, there were trends of increased calcium and hydroxyproline in secondary samples. Several moderately strong positive correlations were found between biochemical markers, as well as a moderately strong negative correlation between calcium and hydroxyproline in secondary cultures. To determine significance between these differences and relationships, increased sample size and further analyses are needed.