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Genetic and Environmental Correlations between Bone Geometric Parameters and Body Compositions

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the genetic and environmental correlations between weight, lean mass and bone geometric parameters (sub-periosteal diameter, W; cross-sectional area, CSA; cortical thickness, CT; section modulus, Z; and buckling ratio, BR) of femoral neck. The sample was composed of 512 Caucasian pedigrees, including 2667 females and 1822 males. Bivariate quantitative genetic analyses were performed to evaluate the genetic (ρ G ), environmental (ρ E ) and phenotypic (ρ P ) correlations between the study traits. Univariate genetic analyses showed that the heritabilities (h 2) for bone geometric parameters were significant (P < 0.001) ranging from 0.50 to 0.60. The significant common household effects indicated the common environment shared by household members for W, CSA, CT, Z and BR (P < 0.05), but the magnitude was small compared with heritabilities. ρ E , ρ G and ρ P between bone geometric parameters and weight, lean mass were generally significant. Interestingly, lean mass showed both stronger genetic and environmental correlations with the bone geometric parameters than weight. In addition, according to the magnitude of correlation coefficients, the ρ G between body compositions and bone geometric parameters were generally stronger thanρ E (except for that between BR and body compositions). These data suggested that the geometric parameters of femoral neck are under strong genetic control. Furthermore, some common genetic and environmental factors are shared by bone geometric parameters and weight, lean mass. The results may help understand the intertwined relationships between bone metabolisms, mechanical loading and body compositions.

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Acknowledgments

The study was partially supported by grants from National Health Institute (K01 AR02170-01A2, R01 GM60402 and 5R01 AR050496-02). The study also benefited from grants from Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (05JJ40051, 04JJ1004), Scientific Research Funds of Hunan Provincial Education Department (05B037, 02A027, 03C226, and 04B039), a key project grant (30230210), and a general grant (30470534) from National Science Foundation of China, and Dickson Missouri Endowment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics and the Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, 410081, P. R. China

    Xiao Sun, Shu-Feng Lei, Fei-Yan Deng, Shan Wu & Hong-Wen Deng

  2. Osteoporosis Research Center and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Creighton University Medical Center, 601 N. 30th St., Suite 6787, Omaha, NE, 68131, USA

    Robert R. Recker

  3. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2411 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO, 64108, USA

    James Hamilton & Hong-Wen Deng

  4. Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2411 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO, 64108, USA

    Christopher Papacian & James Hamilton

  5. Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, 410081, P. R. China

    Hong-Wen Deng

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  1. Xiao Sun
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Correspondence to Hong-Wen Deng.

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Xiao Sun and Shu-Feng Lei contribute equally to this work

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Sun, X., Lei, SF., Deng, FY. et al. Genetic and Environmental Correlations between Bone Geometric Parameters and Body Compositions. Calcif Tissue Int 79, 43–49 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-006-0041-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-006-0041-3

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