Figure 5: RhNELL-1 intravertebral injection increases bone formation in osteoporotic sheep. | Nature Communications

Figure 5: RhNELL-1 intravertebral injection increases bone formation in osteoporotic sheep.

From: NELL-1 in the treatment of osteoporotic bone loss

Figure 5

Recombinant human (rh)NELL-1 protein or vehicle control was injected into the lumbar vertebral bodies of osteoporotic sheep. RhNELL-1 was lyophilized on β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) particles, which has been previously shown to increase the stability of rhNELL-1 in vivo25. Composition of the injected materials can be found in Supplementary Table 3. (a) Absolute change in trabecular BMD among control- and rhNELL-1-treated vertebrae by CT quantification of individual vertebral bodies (N=9 control-treated vertebrae, N=3 vertebrae per treatment dosage). (b) Percent change in the bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV) among control- and rhNELL-1-treated vertebrae by CT quantification of individual vertebral bodies. All quantified values are normalized to month 1, control treatment data (N=9 control-treated vertebrae, N=3 vertebrae per treatment dose). (c) Axial sections of high-resolution CT images. Yellow dashed boxes indicate the area of high magnification on right. Red outlines indicate ROI for trabecular analyses. (d) Ct.Th as determined with microCT quantification, using the cortex ipisilateral to rhNELL-1 injection (N=162 control-treated measurements, N=54 measurements per treatment dose). (e–g) Trabecular analyses, including Tb.Th, Tb.N and Tb.Sp (N=9 control-treated vertebrae, N=3 vertebrae per treatment dose). (h) Representative images of Von Kossa–MacNeal’s Tetrachrome (VKMT) staining trabecular bone adjacent to the injection tract. Yellow dashed boxes indicate the area of high magnification on right. (i) Ob.N per B.Pm (N=10, 9, 9 and 9 images, respectively). (j) Oc.N per × 200 field (N=9, 10, 9 and 9 images, respectively). Red scale bars, 0.5 mm; blue scale bars, 1.0 mm. Data points indicate the means, while error bars represent one s.e.m. In vivo experiments were performed without replicate, unless otherwise described. Parametric data were analysed using an appropriate Student’s t-test or a one-way ANOVA, followed by a post hoc Tukey’s test. Nonparametric data were analysed with a Mann–Whitney U-test or a Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 in comparison with vehicle control. See Supplementary Fig. 6 for additional details of sheep experimentation and analyses.

Back to article page