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Skeletal Adaptation to Mechanical Loading

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Abstract

Over the past 40 years, much has been learnt about how mechanical loading affects bone structure. The latest studies suggest that bone cells detect mechanical loads through integrin linkages at focal adhesions. Loading stimulates new bone formation, which is due in part to increased signaling through the Wnt/LRP5 pathway. Skeletal disuse both suppresses periosteal bone formation and increases bone resorption. The latter effect is due mostly to increased RANKL signaling that stimulates new osteoclasts. Increasing the rate or frequency by which loading is applied greatly improves bone tissue mechanosensitivity, possibly due to loading-induced extracellular fluid forces around osteocytes, which serve as mechanosensors. In addition, osteogenesis after mechanical loading can be improved substantially by inserting rest periods between loading events. This remedy works presumably because bone cells quickly become refractory to applied loads and require “rest” time to recover their mechanosensitivity. The molecular mechanism by which bone cells are desensitized to loading has not yet been identified. Skeletal disuse causes apoptosis of osteoblasts and osteocytes, which results in rapid bone loss. Bone loss following disuse is greatest in weight-bearing bones, particularly the distal bones in the legs, but almost non-existent in bones that do not bear weight.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the NIAMS grant AR046530.

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  1. Biomechanics and Biomaterials Research Center, Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, 1120 South Drive, FH 115, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Charles H. Turner

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Turner, C.H. Skeletal Adaptation to Mechanical Loading. Clinic Rev Bone Miner Metab 5, 181–194 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12018-008-9010-x

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