China News Service, Shanghai, March 22 (Chen Jing and Gu Zhuomin) Reporters learned on the 22nd that a research result jointly obtained by Chinese and Australian experts and scholars was the first to prove that the generation of TCVs (transcortical blood vessels) can promote bone healing. This provides a new direction for the treatment of clinical diseases with insufficient bone and blood supply, such as avascular necrosis of the femoral head and nonunion of middle and lower tibiofibular fractures.
It is reported that transcortical vessels (TCVs) are capillaries in the bone cortex that connect the bone marrow and the periosteal membrane. TCVs provide efficient blood transport inside and outside the bone and participate in the transport of immune cells.
The research team of Zhang Changqing and Gao Junjie from the Department of Orthopedics of the Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and Professor Zheng Minghao of the University of Western Australia published a relevant research paper in the latest issue of Nature Communications, a sub-journal of Nature. Their study reveals a new mechanism of transcortical angiogenesis: bone cells promote endothelial cell angiogenesis through mitochondrial transfer.
Previous studies believed that bone cells are quiescent cells. In recent years, the research groups of Zhang Changqing and Gao Junjie have conducted many studies on bone cells and their mitochondria. Zhang Changqing told reporters that as an important power source for cell metabolism and tissue survival, mitochondria often undergo adaptive changes in morphology, composition and function. At the same time, when mitochondria respond to various stresses and energy demands, they often undergo position changes, that is, mitochondrial transfer.
Zhang Changqing and Gao Junjie's research team found that bone cell mitochondrial transfer can regulate the metabolic energy balance of the bone cell network, control the occurrence and metastasis of bone tumors, and is of great significance to the maintenance of bone homeostasis. The researchers also found that bone cell mitochondria can enhance the angiogenesis capacity of endothelial cells.
It is reported that the research by Chinese and Australian experts and scholars has provided new ideas for the study of intraosseous blood vessel development and the study of the regulatory mechanisms of cardiovascular homeostasis and remodeling. (over)