Collaborative Research: Obesity as a natural experiment to investigate bone functional adaptation.

合作研究：肥胖作为研究骨功能适应的自然实验。

• 批准号: 1922890
• 负责人: Daniel Wescott
• 金额: $ 16.04万
• 依托单位: Texas State University - San Marcos
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1922890&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Obesity; natural; experiment

While it is understood that bone is a dynamic, living tissue that responds to changes in the forces applied to it, researchers do not yet have a complete and detailed understanding of this response in humans. This project will compare the skeletons of individuals who were overweight and healthy-weight during life to determine the effects of increased loading and altered walking mechanics on bone microstructure. Results will help clarify the role mechanical force plays in determining bone microstructure and assess the sensitivity of bone to load alteration. Understanding changes in bone microstructure as a function of loading may help anthropologists reconstruct past behaviors from bone form and may also inform clinical understanding of conditions such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Elucidating the relationship between body weight and bone microstructure may also provide forensic anthropologists new insights for identifying decedents from skeletal material. As part of this project, three female graduate students will receive diverse and intense hands-on research training in high-resolution computed tomography, image analysis, and bone microstructure analysis. In addition, the project will foster public science outreach, specifically engaging students traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. The theoretical basis behind the scientific understanding of bone functional adaptation is that bone tissue that experiences high levels of mechanical strain will adapt by adding bone material, while low strain levels will lead to bone resorption or reduction. The goal of this project is to test bone functional adaptation ("Wolff's Law") in humans using obesity as a natural experiment in load alteration. Results will establish if and how variation in locomotor motion (kinematics) and applied forces (kinetics) associated with obesity manifest in the trabecular structure of the human skeleton. The researchers will collect high-resolution computed tomography image stacks of bones that are part of an extremely well-documented human skeletal collection. Using novel analytical techniques and leveraging well-established image analysis, this project will quantify the patterns of trabecular bone distribution in obese and healthy-weight individuals across the human skeleton. Results will advance knowledge about trabecular bone structure in the human skeleton and its relationship to mechanical loading, produce guidelines for data collection and analysis, and generate data and software for future research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

虽然据了解，骨骼是一种动态的，但生存的组织对应用到其应用的力的变化做出反应，但研究人员尚未对人类的这种反应有完整而详细的理解。该项目将比较生活中超重和健康重量的个体的骨骼，以确定增加负载和步行力学对骨微结构的影响的影响。结果将有助于阐明机械力在确定骨微观结构并评估骨负荷改变的敏感性方面所起的作用。了解骨微结构的变化随负载的函数可能有助于人类学家重建骨形式的过去行为，也可能为临床理解（例如骨质疏松症和骨关节炎）提供信息。阐明体重与骨微结构之间的关系也可能提供法医人类学家，以识别骨骼材料中的死者的新见解。作为该项目的一部分，三名女研究生将在高分辨率计算机断层扫描，图像分析和骨微结构分析方面接受多样化和激烈的动手研究培训。此外，该项目将促进公共科学宣传，特别是在STEM领域中传统上的学生人数不足。 对骨功能适应的科学理解背后的理论基础是，经历高水平的机械应变的骨组织将通过添加骨骼材料来适应，而低应变水平将导致骨吸收或减少。该项目的目的是使用肥胖作为负载改变的自然实验来测试人类中的骨功能适应（“沃尔夫定律”）。结果将确定与肥胖症相关的运动运动（运动学）和应用力（动力学）的变异以及如何在人类骨骼的小梁结构中显现出来。研究人员将收集骨骼的高分辨率计算机断层扫描图像堆栈，这些骨骼是人类骨骼收集的一部分。使用新颖的分析技术并利用良好的图像分析，该项目将量化人类骨骼中肥胖和健康体重个体中小梁骨分布的模式。结果将促进有关人骨骼中小梁骨结构的知识及其与机械负载的关系，为数据收集和分析生成准则，并为未来的研究生成数据和软件。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来通过评估来支持的。