Endocrine Abstracts

The observation that circulating osteocalcin levels double during exercise in young mice suggests that this hormone might be a long sought after endocrine regulator of exercise capacity. We addressed this question by analyzing mice lacking either osteocalcin or its receptor in myofibers only. This analysis showed that osteocalcin signaling in myofibers enhances adaptation to exercise because it increases uptake and utilization of glucose into the tricarboxylic acid cycle and p...

The mouse genetic revolution has shown repeatedly that most organs have more functions than expected. This has led to the realization that in addition to a molecular and cellular approach there is a need for a whole-organism study of physiology. The skeleton is an example of how a whole-organism approach to physiology can broaden the functions of a given organ, reveal connections of this organ with others such as the brain, pancreas and gut, and shed new light on the pathogene...

Gerard Karsenty, Professor and Chairman, Department of Genetics & Development, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA AbstractGerard Karsenty received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Paris, France and completed his post-doctoral training at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1990.His laboratory has studied every aspect of skeletal biology ranging f...

That gonadal failure triggers osteoporosis while obesity protects from it, this led us to hypothesize that there was a common endocrine control of bone mass, body weight and reproduction. In the first phase of this work we aimed at demonstrating that there was a control of bone mass by hormones regulating body weight and reproduction. We showed that the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin regulates bone mass following its binding to hypothalamic neurons and through the use of two...

Advances in genetic approaches to bone physiology have expanded our understanding of the mechanisms by which bone and energy homeostasis interact. PHOSPHO1, a bone specific phosphatase is essential for the initiation of bone mineralisation. Here we now show that Phospho1 ablation confers a remarkable protection against obesity and diabetes in mice. To understand the mechanism whereby Phospho1 impacts metabolism, microarray analysis of osteoblasts, the primary...