The physiological relevance of calcitonin in osteoclast function

在整个成年生活中，骨组织不断重塑。骨重建的两个主要过程是骨形成和骨破裂。骨的形成由称为成骨细胞的细胞控制，而骨骼的分解由称为破骨细胞的细胞控制。在正常情况下，这两个过程是紧密耦合的。骨骼过度分解，导致这两个过程变得不平衡，导致骨丢失。这是许多骨骼疾病的基础，如骨质疏松症，骨质疏松症是一种骨骼变得脆弱的状况，因此更容易骨折。在澳大利亚，每2名女性中就有1名患有骨质疏松症，每5名男性中就有1名患有骨质疏松症。尽管如此，控制破骨细胞破骨的机制还不是很清楚。我们的实验室对激素如何影响破骨细胞活动感兴趣。我们计划研究激素降钙素的作用，降钙素被认为是破骨细胞性骨质破坏的重要抑制因素。这将通过研究转基因小鼠来实现，在转基因小鼠中，降钙素受体被特异性地从破骨细胞中移除。这将使我们能够准确地确定降钙素在破骨细胞功能中的作用。目前治疗骨质疏松症的方法包括使用抑制骨质破坏的药物。这个项目将增加我们对降钙素如何调节破骨细胞功能的理解。我们认为这项研究具有重要意义，因为随着人口老龄化，骨质疏松症正变得越来越普遍。

Throughout adult life, bone tissue is continuously remodelled. The two main processes involved in bone remodelling, are bone formation and bone breakdown. Bone formation is controlled by cells known as osteoblasts and bone breakdown is controlled by cells known as osteoclasts. Under normal circumstances these two processes are tightly coupled. Excessive breakdown of bone, causes these two processes to become unbalanced and results in bone loss. This is the basis of many bone diseases such as osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become fragile and therefore more susceptible to fracture. 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men aged 70 years and older suffer from osteoporosis in Australia. Despite this, the mechanisms which control osteoclast breakdown of bone are not well understood. Our laboratory is interested in how hormones affect osteoclast action. We plan to examine the role of the hormone calcitonin, thought to be important inhibitor of osteoclastic bone breakdown. This will be achieved by studying transgenic mice in which the receptor for calcitonin is specifically removed from osteoclasts. This will allow us to precisely determine the role of calcitonin in osteoclast function. Current treatment for osteoporosis involves the administration of drugs which inhibit bone breakdown. This project will increase our understanding of how calcitonin acts to regulate the function of osteoclasts. We believe that this research is of great importance as osteoporosis is becoming more prevalent as the population ages.