Effects of early life stress on bone homeostasis and fracture healing (B06)

• Subject Area: Biological Psychiatry ; Orthopaedics, Traumatology, Reconstructive Surgery
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 251293561

Early life adversity (ELA) is a known risk factor for the development of stress-related disorders. Own preliminary data indicate that female, but not male mice, subjected to ELA as a 1st hit display an osteopenic bone phenotype. Increased IL-6 and RANKL expression in the bone marrow thereby suggest an ELA-induced detrimental crosstalk between immune and bone cells. Male mice exposed to ELA did appear to be more susceptible to hyperinflammation after a 2nd hit. Because ELA is known to compromise the gut microbiome, the aim of the proposed project is to investigate in a sex-dependent manner the cellular, molecular and gut microbiome-associated mechanism underlying the effects of ELA on bone homeostasis and after fracture (2nd hit).

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1149: Danger Response, Disturbance Factors and Regenerative Potential after Acute Trauma
• Applicant Institution: Universität Ulm
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Melanie Haffner-Luntzer; Professor Dr. Stefan O. Reber