October 6, 2023
Keio University School of Medicine
Professor Yoshiaki Kubota of the Department of Anatomy, Keio University School of Medicine, in a joint study with the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, the Department of Physiology, the Division of Cardiology, and the Collaborative Research Resources (Cell and Tissue Biology) at Keio University, as well as the Research Centers and Institutes of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Nagasaki University, Niigata University, Shiga University of Medical Science, Kumamoto University, Fujita Health University, Tokai University, and the University of Michigan in the United States, has discovered a previously unknown vascular subtype at the ends of bones. The study revealed that this vascular structure is deeply involved in bone development and hematopoiesis.
Bones not only support the body and protect internal organs like the brain, but their interior (bone marrow) also contains hematopoietic stem cells that produce blood cells such as red and white blood cells daily and deliver them throughout the body (hematopoiesis). The blood vessels in the bone marrow are crucial for both this skeletal role and the role of blood production. However, unlike other soft tissues, the hardness of bone makes the process of "slicing sections" for detailed tissue observation difficult. Consequently, our understanding of bone marrow blood vessels has lagged behind that of blood vessels in other organs.
Through improvements in conventional tissue sectioning methods, single-cell transcriptome analysis, and the creation of new genetically modified mice, this study discovered a previously unidentified subtype of bone marrow blood vessels in the epiphysis (bone end) and found it to be important for bone development and hematopoiesis. In the future, this research is expected to be applied to treatment technologies for conditions such as osteoporosis and femoral neck fractures.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of Nature Cell Biology on October 5, 2023 (US Eastern Time).
Please see below for the full press release.