Bone acquisition in healthy young females is reciprocally related to marrow adiposity.
BACKGROUND
Considerable evidence indicates that osteoblasts and adipocytes share a common progenitor cell in the bone marrow that is capable of mutually exclusive differentiation into the cell lineages responsible for bone and fat formation.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between bone acquisition and changes in marrow adiposity.


METHODS
This was a longitudinal study. OUTCOME MEASURES AND SUBJECTS: Computed tomography measurements of femoral cortical bone area (CBA), cross-sectional area (CSA), and marrow density, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements of total body fat and lean mass (LM) were obtained in 39 healthy females (15-20 yr of age) at baseline and 18-24 months later.


RESULTS
Marrow adiposity was inversely related to CBA at baseline and follow-up (r = 0.39 and 0.33; P = 0.015 and 0.039, respectively) but was not associated to CSA (r = 0.19 and 0.17; P = 0.24 and 0.32, respectively). The association between marrow fat and CBA persisted, even after controlling for body mass and DXA values of LM and femoral CSA. Gains in CBA during the course of the study were related to decreases in marrow fat (r = 0.41; P = 0.009), a relation that persisted, even after accounting for changes in bone size. Marrow fat was not associated to anthropometric measures or DXA values of body fat and LM (all r's between -0.15 and 0.19; P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Bone acquisition in the appendicular skeleton of healthy young females is inversely related to changes in marrow adiposity. These results provide support for the growing body of evidence indicating an inversely coupled relationship between osteogenesis and adipogenesis in the skeleton.
Di Iorgi
Natascia
N
Department of Radiology, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90027, USA.
Mo
Ashley O
AO
Grimm
Kate
K
Wren
Tishya A L
TA
Dorey
Frederick
F
Gilsanz
Vicente
V
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D050156:Adipogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult
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