Calluses flex their muscles to align bone fragments during fracture repair.
Neonatal animals spontaneously reduce fractures, yet the mechanical forces influencing this process are poorly understood. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Rot et al. (2014) show that muscle and the fracture callus actively position fractured neonatal bone fragments to restore their alignment, highlighting the multifaceted roles of mechanical cues in skeletal regeneration.
Graduate Program in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Jacqueline
J
Nguyen
Graduate Program in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. Electronic address: tamara.alliston@ucsf.edu.
Tamara
T
Alliston
D000818:Animals; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D002146:Bony Callus / Q000254:growth & development*; D017102:Fracture Healing; D005598:Fractures, Spontaneous / Q000628:therapy*; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000502:physiology*