Planar cell polarity zebrafish models of congenital scoliosis reveal underlying defects in notochord morphogenesis.

Congenital scoliosis (CS) is a type of vertebral malformation for which the etiology remains elusive. The notochord is pivotal for vertebrae development, but its role in CS is still understudied. Here, we generated a zebrafish knockout of ptk7a, a planar cell polarity (PCP) gene that is essential for convergence and extension (C&E) of the notochord, and detected congenital scoliosis-like vertebral malformations (CVMs).

Swim training induces distinct osseous gene expression patterns in anosteocytic and osteocytic teleost fish.

The traditional understanding of bone mechanosensation implicates osteocytes, canaliculi, and the lacunocanalicular network in biomechanical adaptation. However, recent findings challenge this notion, as shown in advanced teleost fish where anosteocytic bone lacking osteocytes are nevertheless responsive to mechanical load. To investigate specific molecular mechanisms involved in bone mechanoadaptation in osteocytic and anosteocytic fish bone, we conducted a 5-min single swim-training experiment with zebrafish and ricefish, respectively.

Effect of sclerostin inactivation in a mouse model of severe dominant osteogenesis imperfecta.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare bone disease that is associated with fractures and low bone mass. Sclerostin inhibition is being evaluated as a potential approach to increase bone mass in OI. We had previously found that in Col1a1 mice, a model of severe OI, treatment with an anti-sclerostin antibody had a minor effect on the skeletal phenotype.

Impact of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Applied for First-Line Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Treatment on Platelet Function in Whole Blood of Healthy Volunteers In Vitro.

The tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) imatinib, dasatinib, bosutinib, and nilotinib are established for first-line treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) but may cause side effects such as bleeding and thrombotic complications. We investigated the impact of TKIs on platelet function ex vivo in anticoagulated whole blood (WB) samples from healthy adults by lumiaggregometry and PFA-100 test. Samples ( = 15 per TKI) were incubated for 30 minutes with TKI at therapeutically relevant final concentrations.