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Toward Mechanical Systems Biology in Bone

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Abstract

Cyclic mechanical loading is perhaps the most important physiological factor regulating bone mass and shape in a way which balances optimal strength with minimal weight. This bone adaptation process spans multiple length and time scales. Forces resulting from physiological exercise at the organ scale are sensed at the cellular scale by osteocytes, which reside inside the bone matrix. Via biochemical pathways, osteocytes orchestrate the local remodeling action of osteoblasts (bone formation) and osteoclasts (bone resorption). Together these local adaptive remodeling activities sum up to strengthen bone globally at the organ scale. To resolve the underlying mechanisms it is required to identify and quantify both cause and effect across the different scales. Progress has been made at the different scales experimentally. Computational models of bone adaptation have been developed to piece together various experimental observations at the different scales into coherent and plausible mechanisms. However additional quantitative experimental validation is still required to build upon the insights which have already been achieved. In this review we discuss emerging as well as state of the art experimental and computational techniques and how they might be used in a mechanical systems biology approach to further our understanding of the mechanisms governing load induced bone adaptation, i.e., ways are outlined in which experimental and computational approaches could be coupled, in a quantitative manner to create more reliable multiscale models of bone.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Friederike Schulte and Reto Fortunati for the provided images. Furthermore the authors gratefully acknowledge the funding from the SystemsX.ch/Swiss National Science Foundation.

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  1. Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland

    Andreas Trüssel, Ralph Müller & Duncan Webster

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  1. Andreas Trüssel
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Correspondence to Duncan Webster.

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Associate Editor Michael R. King oversaw the review of this article.

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Trüssel, A., Müller, R. & Webster, D. Toward Mechanical Systems Biology in Bone. Ann Biomed Eng 40, 2475–2487 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-012-0594-4

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