Critical Reviews™ in Eukaryotic Gene Expression

ISSN for PRINT: 1045-4403

For Online Access

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2003, Volume13

Issue 2-4

227 pages

DOI: 10.1615/CritRevEukaryotGeneExpr.v13.i24

Issue price - $507.00

Tilmann Wurtz
Universite Paris 7, Institut Biomedical des Cordeliers - IFR58, INSERM E110, 15-21 rue de l’Ecole de Medecine, 75270 Paris CEDEX 06, France

Ariane Berdal
Universite Paris 7, Institut Biomedical des Cordeliers - IFR58, INSERM E110, 15-21 rue de l’Ecole de Medecine, 75270 Paris CEDEX 06, France

Skeletal morphology depends on the local regulation of bone formation, both in a quantitative and qualitative sense. The formative cells, osteoblasts, adjust their synthetic activity in response to signals that influence cell differentiation and matrix production. Here, we review data concerning the morphological patterning during bone ontogenesis and its direct cause: osteoblasts at specific anatomic sites. An overview of the possible origins of osteogenic cells is presented, considering bone growth and homeostasis, and discussing the repair process. A testable model is proposed, in which functional differences between osteoblast populations are explained by homeobox-gene regulation. Newly developed markers for osteoblast recruitment and differentiation provide an experimental system to test the impact of homeobox-gene expression on osteoblast differentiation and bone matrix production.

DOI: 10.1615/CritRevEukaryotGeneExpr.v13.i24.80 Download article, 16 pages

Article price - $35.00

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