Hormonal Aspects of the Muscle-Bone Unit

Abstract

Osteoporotic fractures are the result of low density and especially inferior bone quality (microarchitecture) caused by both internal (genes, hormones) and external (life style) influences. Bone mechanosensors are extremely important for the overall integrity of the skeleton, because in response to mechanical load they activate its modeling, resulting in an increase in bone density and strength. The largest physiological loads are caused by muscle contractions. Bone mass in adult men has a closer relationship to muscle mass than is case in women. The sexual differences in the relationship between bone and muscle mass are also apparent in children. Based on the mechanostatic theory, the muscle-bone unit has been defined as a functional system whose components are under the common control of the hormones of the somatotropin-IGF-I axis, sexual steroids, certain adipose tissue hormones and vitamin D. The osteogenic effects of somatotropin-IGF-I system are based on the stimulation of bone formation, as well as increase in muscle mass. Moreover, somatotropin decreases the bone mechanostat threshold and reinforces the effect of physical stress on bone formation. The system, via the muscle-bone unit, plays a significant role in the development of the childhood skeleton as well as in its stability during adulthood. The muscle and bone are also the targets of androgens, which increase bone formation and the growth of muscle mass in men and women, independently of IGF-I. The role of further above-mentioned hormones in regulation of this unified functional complex is also discussed.