Analysis of functional subpopulations of osteocytes

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21H03051
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56020:Orthopedics-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: HAYASHI MIKIHITO 東京医科歯科大学, 大学院医歯学総合研究科, 准教授 (50581914)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 骨細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It has become clear that osteocytes not only maintain bone homeostasis but also have the potential to act on multiple organs. However, osteocytes have been considered as a single population and functional specialization has not been investigated. In this study, we used mice obtained by crossing newly generated mice expressing Cre specifically in osteocytes with Ai9 reporter mice, and confirmed that only osteocytes are specifically labeled with tdTomato, and succeeded in isolating highly pure osteocytes. Analysis of these cells using single-cell RNA-Seq revealed that they were divided into multiple subpopulations, suggesting that they may be functionally distinct. We also compared young and old mice and analyzed changes in each cluster and gene expression.

Free Research Field

骨生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

骨細胞は多種多様な機能を有することが明らかである一方、同じ細胞が同時に多岐にわたる機能を発揮しているとは考えにくいにもかかわらず、骨細胞のサブポピュレーションに関する研究は行われておらず、未だ機能的に細分化されない単一のポピュレーションとして認識されているのが現状であった。本研究の成果により、機能的に異なる骨細胞のサブポピュレーションが存在し、それぞれ特化した機能を有する可能性が示唆された。このことにより、さらなる骨細胞による他臓器制御メカニズムに迫ることが可能となった。