Pulsed electromagnetic fields attenuate glucocorticoid-induced bone loss by targeting senescent LepR+ bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells

Biomater Adv. 2022 Feb:133:112635. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2021.112635. Epub 2021 Dec 28.

Abstract

Glucocorticoids induce cellular senescence, including of stem/progenitor cells in the bone marrow of growing long bone, which leads to bone loss in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. There is no specific drug available to treat this disease. Clearance of senescent cells has been reported to be an effective therapy for osteoporosis. LepR+ cells in the bone marrow are the key kind of stem/progenitor cells conducive to bone remodeling in adulthood. Here, we show that glucocorticoids induce cellular senescence, demonstrated by increased activity of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-βGal+) cells and simultaneous upregulation of coimmunofluorescence staining of p16INK4a with LepR in longitudinal femoral sections. We applied pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs), which alleviated bone loss in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis mice. We found the increased accumulation of senescent LepR+ cells in the bone marrow of adult mice after glucocorticoid treatment, and this could be counteracted by PEMFs. Moreover, PEMFs maintained type H vessel formation and osteogenesis. This process was modulated by the polycomb histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and its trimethylation of histone H3 on lysine 27 (H3K27me3). These results provide evidence that PEMFs alleviate bone loss induced by glucocorticoids by eliminating senescent cells, maintaining angiogenesis-osteogenesis coupling, and shedding light on the mechanisms, providing a potential method to treat glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

Keywords: Angiogenesis; Cellular senescence; EZH2/H3K27me3; LepR(+) cells; Osteogenesis; PEMFs.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Glucocorticoids / pharmacology
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells*
  • Mice
  • Osteoporosis* / chemically induced

Substances

  • Glucocorticoids