SUMMARY.
It is now thought that osteoblasts (OB) stem from mesenchymal precursor cells (fibroblastic colony forming units or CFU-f) in the bone marrow. As the availability of these cells may have a profound effect on bone formation, the effect of age and ovariectomy (OVX) on CFU-f numbers was studied. It was found that with increasing age the numbers of CFU-f in the marrow were drastically reduced. OVX had no effect on CFU-f levels in 4 week and 4 month old rats but raised CFU-f levels in 1 year old rats back to levels seen in younger rats. Sham operation alone had an effect on CFU-f levels in older rats and the OVX effects were indistinguishable from the sham effect until 20 d post operation when the sham levels returned to baseline. The results show that CFU-f levels follow a similar trend to the rates of bone formation seen in aged and OVX rats.
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Received: 7 July 1995 / Accepted: 28 May 1996
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Scutt, A., Kollenkirchen, U. & Bertram, P. Effect of Age and Ovariectomy on Fibroblastic Colony-Forming Unit Numbers in Rat Bone Marrow. Calcif Tissue Int 59, 309–310 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002239900130
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002239900130