%0 Journal Article
%T Osteocalcin is necessary for the alignment of apatite crystallites, but not glucose metabolism, testosterone synthesis, or muscle mass
%A Hisato Komori
%A Norio Amizuka
%A Ryo Fukuyama
%A Ryosuke Ozasa
%A Takayoshi Nakano
%A Takeshi Moriishi
%A Takuya Ishimoto
%A Tomoka Hasegawa
%A Toshihiro Miyazaki
%A Toshihisa Komori
%A Wenguang Liu
%A Xin Qin
%A Yuying Wang
%J -
%D 2020
%R 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008586
%X The strength of bone depends on bone quantity and quality. Osteocalcin (Ocn) is the most abundant noncollagenous protein in bone and is produced by osteoblasts. It has been previously claimed that Ocn inhibits bone formation and also functions as a hormone to regulate insulin secretion in the pancreas, testosterone synthesis in the testes, and muscle mass. We generated Ocn-deficient (Ocn每/每) mice by deleting Bglap and Bglap2. Analysis of Ocn每/每mice revealed that Ocn is not involved in the regulation of bone quantity, glucose metabolism, testosterone synthesis, or muscle mass. The orientation degree of collagen fibrils and size of biological apatite (BAp) crystallites in the c-axis were normal in the Ocn每/每bone. However, the crystallographic orientation of the BAp c-axis, which is normally parallel to collagen fibrils, was severely disrupted, resulting in reduced bone strength. These results demonstrate that Ocn is required for bone quality and strength by adjusting the alignment of BAp crystallites parallel to collagen fibrils; but it does not function as a hormone
%K Collagens
%K Femur
%K Mouse models
%K Glucose metabolism
%K Bone development
%K Testosterone
%K Glucose
%K Sperm
%U https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008586