Transferrin receptor 1-mediated iron uptake regulates bone mass in mice via osteoclast mitochondria and cytoskeleton
- Southern California Institute for Research and Education, United States
- Anhui Medical University, China
- Kyushu University Hospital, Japan
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, United States
- Texas A&M University, United States
- Duke University, United States
- VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, United States
Abstract
Increased intracellular iron spurs mitochondrial biogenesis and respiration to satisfy high-energy demand during osteoclast differentiation and bone-resorbing activities. Transferrin receptor 1 (Tfr1) mediates cellular iron uptake through endocytosis of iron-loaded transferrin and its expression increases during osteoclast differentiation. Nonetheless, the precise functions of Tfr1 and Tfr1-mediated iron uptake in osteoclast biology and skeletal homeostasis remain incompletely understood. To investigate the role of Tfr1 in osteoclast lineage cells in vivo and in vitro, we crossed Tfrc (encoding Tfr1)-floxed mice with Lyz2 (LysM)-Cre and Cathepsin K (Ctsk)-Cre mice to generate Tfrc conditional knockout mice in myeloid osteoclast precursors (Tfr1ΔLysM) or differentiated osteoclasts (Tfr1ΔCtsk), respectively. Skeletal phenotyping by µCT and histology unveiled a significant increase in trabecular bone mass with normal osteoclast number in long bones of 10-week-old young and 6-month-old adult female but not male Tfr1ΔLysM mice. Although high trabecular bone volume in long bones was observed in both male and female Tfr1ΔCtsk mice, this phenotype was more pronounced in female knockout mice. Consistent with this gender-dependent phenomena, estrogen-deficiency induced by ovariectomy decreased trabecular bone mass in Tfr1ΔLysM mice. Mechanistically, disruption of Tfr1 expression attenuated mitochondrial metabolism and cytoskeletal organization in mature osteoclasts in vitro by attenuating mitochondrial respiration and activation of the Src-Rac1-WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) axis, respectively, leading to decreased bone resorption with little impact on osteoclast differentiation. These results indicate that Tfr1-mediated iron uptake is specifically required for osteoclast function and is indispensable for bone remodeling in a gender-dependent manner.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting file.
Article and author information
Author details
Nukhet Aykin-Burns
Funding
Southern California Institute for Research and Education (R01AR073298)
- Haibo Zhao
Loma Linda Veterans Association for Research and Education (R01AR078843)
- Weirong Xing
Loma Linda Veterans Association for Research and Education (R01AR048139,AR070806)
- Subburaman Mohan
Loma Linda VA Healthcare System (VA merit BX005262)
- Subburaman Mohan
Long Beach VA Healthcare System (VA Merit Award BX004841)
- Ling Gao
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (P20 GM 109005)
- Nukhet Aykin-Burns
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (R24GM137786 and P20 GM121293)
- Samuel G Mackintosh
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal protocols and procedures used in animal studies were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Long Beach VA Healthcare System, and Loma Linda VA Healthcare System (IACUC #1685 and #1774). The protocols for generation and use of recombinant DNAs and retroviruses were approved by Institutional Biosafety Committee of Long Beach VA Healthcare System.832 (approval #1774).
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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Transferrin receptor 1-mediated iron uptake regulates bone mass in mice via osteoclast mitochondria and cytoskeleton
eLife 11:e73539.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73539
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