C - Michigan Technological University

Table of contentsIndex of Figures ............................................................................................................. viiIndex of Tables ............................................................................................................... xiiAcknowledgments ......................................................................................................... xivList of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... xvDefinitions .................................................................................................................... xviiiSpecies names .............................................................................................................. xxiAbstract ......................................................................................................................... xxiiChapter One – Background and significance ................................................................... 11.1. Problem description/significance .......................................................................... 11.2. Basics of bone remodeling ................................................................................... 21.3. Bone turnover is unbalanced during disuse ......................................................... 31.4. Osteoblast and osteocyte apoptosis results in bone loss ..................................... 31.4.1. Review of apoptosis mechanisms in osteoblasts ....................................... 41.4.2. Apoptosis precedes disuse-induced bone loss .......................................... 61.5. Disuse in humans ................................................................................................. 71.6. Disuse in non-hibernating animals ....................................................................... 81.7. Hibernation as a model of disuse ......................................................................... 91.7.1. Physiology of hibernation ......................................................................... 101.7.2. Bone response to hibernation—small hibernators.................................... 111.7.3. Bone response to hibernation—bears: histological and mechanicaldata .......................................................................................................... 121.7.4. Bone response to hibernation—bears: serum formation markers andhistomorphometry .................................................................................... 131.7.5. Hypothesis 1: BSALP and TRACP reduction during hibernation ............. 141.7.6. Hypothesis 2: OCN interacts with energy metabolism ............................. 151.7.7. Hypothesis 3: Reduced apoptotic serum factors during hibernation ........ 151.8. Hypotheses and aims ......................................................................................... 18iii