Bone Biology Info
Bone is a tissue that many scientists find challenging to work with and to understand.
Think Bone Consulting is here to help!
As in other fields, those who have worked in the field for a while tend to take certain information for granted that is not so obvious to newcomers. Many of our clients need only basic information about bone biology and experimental methods to dramatically improve their understanding.
Therefore, we are developing these bone biology pages to provide access to some basic information about bone biology and the techniques used to study it.
The resources provided on this page include:
Also see our Bone Biology Links page.
These resources are under development and we plan to add more soon, so please check back. We welcome your feedback, contributions, questions, criticism, and suggestions for further additions—send us email to: feedback@thinkboneconsulting.com.
Presentations & White papers
Presentation: Characterization of Bone Structure & Function (2 MB)
This presentation briefly reviews the methods applied in preclinical bone and cartilage studies. It is most applicable to osteoporosis research, although many of the methods also apply to cartilage and orthopedics research.
Bone Histology Slide Set (1 MB)
This set of bone images was originally developed and distributed by SkeleTech.
Presentation: General Principles of Bone Histomorphometry (4 MB)
Originally presented at the Sun Valley Hard Tissue Workshop, this presentation outlines some general principles of morphometry as well as discussing bone histomorphometry specifically.
Presentation: Cortical Bone Histomorphometry in Primates (1 MB)
Originally presented at a seminar held in honor of Dr. Harold Frost, this presentation describes cortical bone remodeling in cynomolgus monkeys and the effects of age and ovariectomy.
Presentation: PTH and Cancellous Connectivity in Primates (3 MB)
Presented at the ECTS meeting in 1999, this was the first description of trabecular tunneling leading to improved trabecular architecture following PTH treatment.
Presentation: Bone Biomarkers (1 MB)
Prepared in 2003 as an overview of bone biomarkers.
If you are keen to learn more about bone histomorphometry, this paper provides an excellent overview:
Parfitt AM, Drezner MK, Glorieux FH, Kanis JA, Malluche H, Meunier PJ, Ott SM, Recker RR. Bone histomorphometry: standardization of nomenclature, symbols, and units. Report of the ASBMR Histomorphometry Nomenclature Committee. J Bone Miner Res. 1987 Dec;2(6):595-610. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3455637
Literature Reviews
Literature reviews can be very helpful for getting up to speed in a new area. I can provide reprints of my review articles, and have provided PubMed links to the abstracts of others, which should be available in University libraries. If you have trouble locating any of these articles, send an email to info@thinkboneconsulting.com and we will do our best to help.
Included below are reviews of osteoporosis models, orthopedics models and treatments, and arthritis models.
Let us know about other reviews you think we should list!
OSTEOPOROSIS animal model literature reviews
I have published two reviews of the nonhuman primate osteoporosis model – click the links to send an email to request reprints:
Jerome CP, Peterson PE, 2001. Nonhuman Primate Models in Skeletal Research. Bone 29: 1-6. Reprint 46
Jerome C, 2004. Hormonal Therapies and Osteoporosis. ILAR Journal 42(2):170-178. Reprint 51
My colleague Bob Brommage also published a review in 2001:
Brommage R. Perspectives on using nonhuman primates to understand the etiology and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact. 2001 Jun;1(4):307-25.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15758482
Here is another review of the primate model:
Black A, Lane MA. Nonhuman primate models of skeletal and reproductive aging. Gerontology. 2002 Mar-Apr;48(2):72-80.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11867928
An excellent review of other large animal osteoporosis models was published recently:
Reinwald S, Burr D. Review of nonprimate, large animal models for osteoporosis research. J Bone Miner Res. 2008 Sep;23(9):1353-68.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18505374
Rat osteoporosis models are by far the most widely used and were recently reviewed:
Lelovas PP, Xanthos TT, Thoma SE, Lyritis GP, Dontas IA. The laboratory rat as an animal model for osteoporosis research. Comp Med. 2008 Oct;58(5):424-30.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19004367
Biomechanical testing is an important technique in osteoporosis models, but is a difficult subject for many biologists. These reviews may help:
Turner CH, Burr DB. Basic biomechanical measurements of bone: a tutorial. Bone. 1993 Jul-Aug;14(4):595-608.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8274302
Ritchie RO, Koester KJ, Ionova S, Yao W, Lane NE, Ager JW 3rd. Measurement of the toughness of bone: a tutorial with special reference to small animal studies. Bone. 2008 Nov;43(5):798-812.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18647665
Animal models of osteoporosis generally do not exhibit the fractures that are the hallmark of osteoporosis. This issue is reviewed here:
Egermann M, Goldhahn J, Schneider E. Animal models for fracture treatment in osteoporosis.
Osteoporos Int. 2005 Mar;16 Suppl 2:S129-38.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15750681
ORTHOPEDICS animal models literature reviews
This is a nice overview of fracture healing models:
Einhorn TA. Clinically applied models of bone regeneration in tissue engineering research. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1999 Oct;(367 Suppl):S59-67. Review.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10546636
This book provides a lot more information on the same topic:
YueHuei HA, Freidman RJ. Animal Models in Orthopedic Research. CRC Press 1999.
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Models-Orthopaedic-Research
A couple of reviews of fracture healing biology:
Einhorn TA. The science of fracture healing. J Orthop Trauma. 2005 Nov-Dec;19(10 Suppl):S4-6.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16479221
Einhorn TA. The cell and molecular biology of fracture healing. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1998 Oct;(355 Suppl):S7-21.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9917622
And some reviews of biologics in orthopedic indications:
Watson JT. Overview of biologics. J Orthop Trauma. 2005 Nov-Dec;19(10 Suppl):S14-6. Review.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16479217
Yoon ST, Boden SD. Osteoinductive molecules in orthopaedics: basic science and preclinical studies. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2002 Feb;(395):33-43. Review.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11937864
Lane JM. Bone morphogenic protein science and studies. J Orthop Trauma. 2005 Nov-Dec;19(10 Suppl):S17-22. Review.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16479218
ARTHRITIS animal models literature reviews
Here are some reviews of preclinical models in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis research:
Pritzker KP. Animal models for osteoarthritis: processes, problems and prospects. Ann Rheum Dis. 1994 Jun;53(6):406-20. Review. No abstract available.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8037500
Bendele A. Animal models of rheumatoid arthritis. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact. 2001 Jun;1(4):377-85.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15758488
Bendele AM. Animal models of osteoarthritis. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact. 2001 Jun;1(4):363-76.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15758487
Sniekers YH, Weinans H, Bierma-Zeinstra SM, van Leeuwen JP, van Osch GJ. Animal models for osteoarthritis: the effect of ovariectomy and estrogen treatment - a systematic approach.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2008 May;16(5):533-41.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18280756
Histological examination remains the key endpoint in preclinical OA studies. This article describes an osteoarthritis histopathology grading system:
Pritzker KP, Gay S, Jimenez SA, Ostergaard K, Pelletier JP, Revell PA, Salter D, van den Berg WB. Osteoarthritis cartilage histopathology: grading and staging. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2006 Jan;14(1):13-29.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16242352
There is growing interest in the pain associated with arthritis. Pain is a complicated topic, and this review gives an nice overview:
Sah DW, Ossipo MH, Porreca F. Neurotrophic factors as novel therapeutics for neuropathic pain. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2003 Jun;2(6):460-72.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12776221