During development, growth factors and hormones cooperate to establish the unique sizes, shapes and material properties of individual bones. Among these, TGF-β has been shown to developmentally regulate bone mass and bone matrix properties. However, the mechanisms that control postnatal skeletal integrity in a dynamic biological and mechanical environment are distinct from those that regulate bone development. In addition, despite advances in understanding the roles of TGF-β signaling in osteoblasts and osteoclasts, the net effects of altered postnatal TGF-β signaling on bone remain unclear. To examine the role of TGF-β in the maintenance of the postnatal skeleton, we evaluated the effects of pharmacological inhibition of the TGF-β type I receptor (TβRI) kinase on bone mass, architecture and material properties. Inhibition of TβRI function increased bone mass and multiple aspects of bone quality, including trabecular bone architecture and macro-mechanical behavior of vertebral bone. TβRI inhibitors achieved these effects by increasing osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, while reducing osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption. Furthermore, they induced the expression of Runx2 and EphB4, which promote osteoblast differentiation, and ephrinB2, which antagonizes osteoclast differentiation. Through these anabolic and anti-catabolic effects, TβRI inhibitors coordinate changes in multiple bone parameters, including bone mass, architecture, matrix mineral concentration and material properties, that collectively increase bone fracture resistance. Therefore, TβRI inhibitors may be effective in treating conditions of skeletal fragility.

The ability of bone to resist catastrophic failure is critically dependent upon the material properties of bone matrix, a composite of hydroxyapatite, collagen type I, and noncollagenous proteins. These properties include elastic modulus, hardness, and fracture toughness. Like other aspects of bone quality, matrix material properties are biologically-defined and can be disrupted in skeletal disease. While mineral and collagen have been investigated in greater detail, the contribution of noncollagenous proteins such as osteopontin to bone matrix material properties remains unclear. Several roles have been ascribed to osteopontin in bone, many of which have the potential to impact material properties. To elucidate the role of osteopontin in bone quality, we evaluated the structure, composition, and material properties of bone from osteopontin-deficient mice and wild-type littermates at several length scales. Most importantly, the results show that osteopontin deficiency causes a 30% decrease in fracture toughness, suggesting an important role for OPN in preventing crack propagation. This significant decline in fracture toughness is independent of changes in whole bone mass, structure, or matrix porosity. Using nanoindentation and quantitative backscattered electron imaging to evaluate osteopontin-deficient bone matrix at the micrometer level, we observed a significant reduction in elastic modulus and increased variability in calcium concentration. Matrix heterogeneity was also apparent at the ultrastructural level. In conclusion, we find that osteopontin is essential for the fracture toughness of bone, and reduced toughness in osteopontin-deficient bone may be related to the increased matrix heterogeneity observed at the micro-scale. By exploring the effects of osteopontin-deficiency on bone matrix material properties, composition and organization, Corresponding Author: Tamara Alliston, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Francisco, 533 Parnassus, UC Hall 452, San Francisco, CA 94143-0514, Tel: 415-502-6523, Fax: 415-476-1128, tamara.alliston@ucsf.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptBone. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 June 1. this study suggests that reduced fracture toughness is one mechanism by which loss of noncollagenous proteins contribute to bone fragility.

Overweight and obesity is a rapidly expanding health problem in children and adolescents. Obesity is associated with greater bone mineral content that might be expected to protect against fracture, which has been observed in adults. Paradoxically however, the incidence of bone fractures has been found to increase in overweight and obese children and adolescents. Prior studies have shown some reduced mechanical properties as a result of high-fat diet (HFD) but do not fully address size-independent measures of mechanical properties, which are important to understand material behavior. To clarify the effects of HFD on the mechanical properties and microstructure of bone, femora from C57BL/6 mice fed either a HFD or standard laboratory chow (Chow) were evaluated for structural changes and tested for bending strength, bending stiffness and fracture toughness. Here we find that in young obese high fat fed mice all geometric parameters of the femoral bone, except length, are increased but strength, bending stiffness and fracture toughness all are reduced. This increased bone size and reduced size-independent mechanical properties suggests that obesity leads to a general reduction in bone quality despite an increase in bone quantity; yield and maximum loads, however, remained unchanged, suggesting compensatory mechanisms. We conclude that diet-induced obesity increases bone size and reduces size-independent mechanical properties of cortical bone in mice. This study indicates that bone quantity and bone quality play important compensatory roles in determining fracture risk.