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Review
. 2013 Jun;54(2):279-84.
doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2013.01.034. Epub 2013 Jan 26.

Glucocorticoids and osteocyte autophagy

Wei Yao  1 , Weiwei Dai, Jean X Jiang, Nancy E Lane
Affiliations
Review

Glucocorticoids and osteocyte autophagy

Wei Yao et al. Bone. 2013 Jun.

Abstract

Glucocorticoids are used for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. While they are effective therapy, bone loss and incident fracture risk are high. While previous studies have found GC effects on both osteoclasts and osteoblasts, our work has focused on the effects of GCs on osteocytes. Osteocytes exposed to low dose GCs undergo autophagy while osteocytes exposed to high doses of GCs or for a prolonged period of time undergo apoptosis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
RNA was extracted from the tibial cortical bone in mice that were treated with PL or various doses of GC. RT-PCR gene arrays were performed for antioxidant defense (A). Correlations between gene expressions associated with antioxidant and autophagy following GC treatments (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Proposed mechanisms for osteocyte autophagy and glucocorticoid-induced bone fragility
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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