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Physiology of Mechanotransduction: How Do Muscle and Bone “Talk” to One Another?

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Abstract

The complexity of cell interactions with their microenvironment and their ability to communicate at the autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine levels has gradually but significantly evolved in the last three decades. The musculoskeletal system has been historically recognized to be governed by a relationship of proximity and function, chiefly dictated by mechanical forces and the work of gravity itself. In this review article, we first provide a historical overview of the biomechanical theory of bone–muscle interactions. Next, we expand to detail the significant evolution in our understanding of the function of bones and muscles as secretory organs. Then, we review and discuss new evidence in support of a biochemical interaction between these two tissues. We then propose that these two models of interaction are complementary and intertwined providing for a new frontier for the investigation of how bone–muscle cross talk could be fully explored for the targeting of new therapies for musculoskeletal diseases, particularly the twin conditions of aging, osteoporosis and sarcopenia. In the last section, we explore the bone–muscle cross talk in the context of their interactions with other tissues and the global impact of these multi-tissue interactions on chronic diseases.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the NIH-National Institutes of Aging Program Project Grant P01 AG039355-01-A1, Missouri Life Sciences Research Board and the Thompson Endowment Fund (MB). We are thankful to the members of the UMKC Bone Biology Group and Muscle Biology Group for useful discussions that were helpful in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Conflict of interest

Janalee Isaacson and Marco Brotto declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Animal/Human Studies

This review does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Muscle Biology Research Group-MUBIG, School of Nursing and Health Studies, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), 2464 Charlotte St, Kansas City, MO, 64108, USA

    Janalee Isaacson & Marco Brotto

  2. Nursing Program, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, 66210, USA

    Janalee Isaacson

  3. School of Medicine, UMKC, Kansas City, MO, USA

    Marco Brotto

  4. School of Pharmacy, UMKC, Kansas City, MO, USA

    Marco Brotto

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  1. Janalee Isaacson
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Correspondence to Marco Brotto.

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Isaacson, J., Brotto, M. Physiology of Mechanotransduction: How Do Muscle and Bone “Talk” to One Another?. Clinic Rev Bone Miner Metab 12, 77–85 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12018-013-9152-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12018-013-9152-3

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