Adhesive properties of isolated chick osteocytes in vitro

Abstract

Different functions have been proposed for osteocytes over time, but it is now generally accepted that their most important task lies in the sensing of strain caused by mechanical loading on bone. The fact that mechanical strain can be sensed as deformation of the extracellular matrix or as fluid shear stress along the cell, in the space between cell membrane and extracellular matrix, requires that osteocytes have close (specialized) contact with the bone matrix. We studied to which extracellular matrix proteins isolated chicken osteocytes adhere and whether this adhesion is mediated by specific cell adhesion receptors called integrins. The adhesive properties of the osteocytes were compared..