Probiotics Enhance Bone Growth and Rescue BMP Inhibition: New Transgenic Zebrafish Lines to Study Bone Health
Zebrafish larvae, especially gene-specific mutants and transgenic lines, are increasingly used to study vertebrate skeletal development and human pathologies such as osteoporosis, osteopetrosis and osteoarthritis. Probiotics have been recognized in recent years as a prophylactic treatment for variou...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/9/4748 |
| Summary: | Zebrafish larvae, especially gene-specific mutants and transgenic lines, are increasingly used to study vertebrate skeletal development and human pathologies such as osteoporosis, osteopetrosis and osteoarthritis. Probiotics have been recognized in recent years as a prophylactic treatment for various bone health issues in humans. Here, we present two new zebrafish transgenic lines containing the coding sequences for fluorescent proteins inserted into the endogenous genes for <i>sp7</i> and <i>col10a1a</i> with larvae displaying fluorescence in developing osteoblasts and the bone extracellular matrix (mineralized or non-mineralized), respectively. Furthermore, we use these transgenic lines to show that exposure to two different probiotics, <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> and <i>Lactococcus lactis</i>, leads to an increase in osteoblast formation and bone matrix growth and mineralization. Gene expression analysis revealed the effect of the probiotics, particularly <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>, in modulating several skeletal development genes, such as <i>runx2</i>, <i>sp7</i>, <i>spp1</i> and <i>col10a1a</i>, further supporting their ability to improve bone health. <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> was the more potent probiotic able to significantly reverse the inhibition of bone matrix formation when larvae were exposed to a BMP inhibitor (LDN212854). |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |