Bone structure and B-cell populations, crippled by obesity, are partially rescued by brief daily exposure to low-magnitude mechanical signals

FASEB J. 2012 Dec;26(12):4855-63. doi: 10.1096/fj.12-209841. Epub 2012 Aug 16.

Abstract

Deterioration of the immune and skeletal systems, each of which parallel obesity, reflects a fragile interrelationship between adiposity and osteoimmunology. Using a murine model of diet-induced obesity, this study investigated the ability of mechanical signals to protect the skeletal-immune systems at the tissue, cellular, and molecular level. A long-term (7 mo) high-fat diet increased total adiposity (+62%), accelerated age-related loss of trabecular bone (-61%), and markedly reduced B-cell number in the marrow (-52%) and blood (-36%) compared to mice fed a regular diet. In the final 4 mo of the protocol, the application of low-magnitude mechanical signals (0.2 g at 90 Hz, 15 min/d, 5 d/wk) restored both bone structure and B cells to those levels measured in control mice fed a regular diet. These phenotypic outcomes were achieved, in part, by reductions in osteoclastic activity and a biasing of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation toward the lymphoid B-cell lineage and away from a myeloid fate. These results emphasize that obesity undermines both the skeletal and immune systems, yet brief exposure to mechanical signals, perhaps as a surrogate to the salutary influence of exercise, diminishes the consequences of diabetes and obesity, restoring bone structure and normalizing B-cell populations by biasing of the fate of stem cells through mechanosensitive pathways.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Acid Phosphatase / genetics
  • Acid Phosphatase / metabolism
  • Adipose Tissue / metabolism
  • Animals
  • B-Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • Body Weight / physiology
  • Bone Marrow Cells / metabolism
  • Bone Resorption / etiology
  • Bone Resorption / metabolism
  • Bone and Bones / metabolism*
  • Bone and Bones / pathology
  • Diet, High-Fat / adverse effects
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Gene Expression
  • Isoenzymes / genetics
  • Isoenzymes / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • NFATC Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Obesity / etiology
  • Obesity / metabolism
  • Obesity / physiopathology*
  • PAX5 Transcription Factor / genetics
  • PPAR gamma / genetics
  • Physical Conditioning, Animal / physiology*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase
  • X-Ray Microtomography

Substances

  • Isoenzymes
  • NFATC Transcription Factors
  • Nfatc1 protein, mouse
  • PAX5 Transcription Factor
  • PPAR gamma
  • Pax5 protein, mouse
  • Acid Phosphatase
  • Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase