Effect of mechanical unloading and reloading on periosteal bone formation and gene expression in tail-suspended rapidly growing rats

In order to delineate the influence of mechanical unloading on the formation and resorption of trabecular and cortical bone, the effects of mechanical unloading an the volume, structure, and turnover of hindlimbs were examined using tail-suspended rapidly growing rats. In addition, to clarify the mechanism of how mechanical stimulation affects bone formation, the influence of reloading on the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of genes related to differentiation or proliferation of bone cells was examined. Tail suspension of 5-week-old rats for 14 days caused a suppression of the increase in the diameter, subperiosteal area, and bone mineral density (BMD) of the femur. The suppression of the increase in femoral BMD was composed of an early impairment in the gain of BMD at the femoral metaphysis, which is rich in trabecular bone, and a sustained reduction in the gain of BMD at the femoral diaphysis, which is rich in cortical bone. The early reduction in the increase of BMD at the metaphysis was due to an enhancement of bone resorption, whereas a sustained reduction of periosteal bone formation appeared to play an important role in the suppression of gain in cortical bone mass and size by mechanical unloading. Mechanical reloading of the hind limbs after 14 days of tail suspension caused a transient increase within 2 h of the expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 in intraosseous cells, composed mainly of osteocytes, and in the expression of c-fos in periosteal cells. However, because the COX-2 expression in osteocytes was not enhanced after 20 min of reloading when the c-fos expression was already increased in periosteal cells, the enhancement of c-fos expression does not appear to be mediated by an increased production of prostaglandins in the osteocytes, It is suggested that mechanical unloading causes an impairment of periosteal bone formation by impairing the expression of c-fos in periosteal cells. The intercellular signaling cascade that mediates the enhancement of c-fos expression in periosteal cells in response to mechanical stimulation remains to be elucidated. (C) 1998 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.