%0 Journal Article
%T Different impact of short-term and long-term hindlimb disuse on bone homeostasis.
%A Gao M
%A Dong C
%A Chen Z
%A Jiang R
%A Shaw P
%A Gao W
%A Sun Y
%J Gene
%V 918
%N 0
%D 2024 Aug 5
%M 38641071
%F 3.913
%R 10.1016/j.gene.2024.148457
%X Disuse osteoporosis is one of the major problems of bone health which commonly occurs in astronauts during long-term spaceflight and bedridden patients. However, the mechanisms underlying such mechanical unloading induced bone loss have not been fully understood. In this study, we employed hindlimb-unloading mice models with different length of tail suspension to investigate if the bone loss was regulated by distinct factors under different duration of disuse. Our micro-CT results showed more significant decrease of bone mass in 6W (6-week) tail-suspension mice compared to the 1W (1-week) tail-suspension ones, as indicated by greater reduction of BV/TV, Tb.N, B.Ar/T.Ar and Ct.Th. RNA-sequencing results showed significant effects of hindlimb disuse on cell locomotion and immune system process which could cause bone loss.Real-time quantitative PCR results indicated a greater number of bone formation related genes that were downregulated in short-term tail-suspension mice compared to the long-term ones. It is, thus, suggested while sustained hindlimb unloading continuously contributes to bone loss, molecular regulation of bone homeostasis tends to reach a balance during this process.