Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis reports the effects of infection by the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi on bone biology in mice. Bone mineral density, microarchitecture, and cellular morphology were analyzed. B. burgdorferi was found to directly invade bone. Infection induced osteopenia in long bones but not vertebraes. Trabecular bone was deteriorated by infection, but cortical bone was unaffected. Bone loss was not due to increases in osteoclastogenesis or bone resorption. Instead, it was associated with reduction in osteoblast numbers. Osteoid-producing and mineralization activities of existing osteoblasts were unaffected by infection. This suggested that osteopenia and disruption of trabecular bone in response to B. burgdorferi infection was likely caused by mechanisms which impaired osteoblastogenesis and/or induced osteoblast cell death. Together, these data represent the first evidence that B. burgdorferi infection can induce bone loss, and suggest that this phenotype is due to the effects of infection on osteoblastogenesis and/or osteoblast survival.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Tian Tang
Language: English
Topic: Bone Metabolism and Diseases
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1407150401, G5306119083, G6179622167
OpenAlex ID: W2611794181