Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part 1 Molecular and cellular environment of bone
- 1 Endochondral bone formation and development in the axial and appendicular skeleton
- 2 The role of osteoblasts
- 3 Osteoclasts: characteristics and regulation of formation and activity
- 4 Bone matrix proteins
- 5 Local regulators of bone turnover
- 6 The PTH/PTHrP system and calcium homeostasis
- 7 Vitamin D metabolism
- 8 Sodium-dependent phosphate transport in kidney, bone and intestine
- 9 Molecular genetic analysis of growth factor signaling in bone
- Part II Determinants of peak bone mass
- Part III Pathophysiology of the aging skeleton
- Part IV Clinical aspects of osteoporosis
- Index
4 - Bone matrix proteins
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part 1 Molecular and cellular environment of bone
- 1 Endochondral bone formation and development in the axial and appendicular skeleton
- 2 The role of osteoblasts
- 3 Osteoclasts: characteristics and regulation of formation and activity
- 4 Bone matrix proteins
- 5 Local regulators of bone turnover
- 6 The PTH/PTHrP system and calcium homeostasis
- 7 Vitamin D metabolism
- 8 Sodium-dependent phosphate transport in kidney, bone and intestine
- 9 Molecular genetic analysis of growth factor signaling in bone
- Part II Determinants of peak bone mass
- Part III Pathophysiology of the aging skeleton
- Part IV Clinical aspects of osteoporosis
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Bone represents the largest proportion of the connective tissues in the human body where it functions in the protection of internal organs, as a framework for muscle attachment to generate locomotion, and as an ion reservoir for calcium and other mineral elements. The unique biophysical properties of bone reflect the macromolecular composition and organization of the mineralized extracellular matrix (ECM), which is largely produced and regulated by specialized cells of the osteoblastic lineage. The ECM is formed from a scaffold of collagen fibrils within and between which are found uniform-sized crystals of carbonate-substituted hydroxyapatite. Other proteins, including proteoglycans, sialoproteins and various acidic glycoproteins regulate the formation of the collagen fibrils and apatite crystals and mediate interactions with the osteoblastic cells that generate and maintain the matrix. Characteristically, bone is remodeled continuously during postnatal growth and skeletal maintenance, thus permitting continuous adaptivity for changes in size and structure. Bone mass is maintained through a carefully regulated balance between synthesis and resorption which can be monitored by analysis of metabolized matrix components in body fluids — typically in serum and urine. Loss of regulation, observed in metabolic bone diseases, can lead to increased (osteopetrosis) or decreased (osteoporosis) bone mass, primarily reflecting changes in the amount of mineralized ECM.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Osteoporosis Primer , pp. 46 - 63Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
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