ArticleJournal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials2013
Osteocyte differentiation is regulated by extracellular matrix stiffness and intercellular separation.
Article in Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fibroblast growth factor receptor signaling in maturing osteoblasts controls cell-matrix interactions critical for osteocyte survival.Bone research · 2026Article
- Matrix Competence Failure in Osteoporosis: Mechanosensing, Osteoimmune Crosstalk, and Fragility Beyond Bone Mineral Density.Current medical science · 2026Review
- Bone Fragility: Time to Address the Matrix.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2026Article
- Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor Signaling in Maturing Osteoblasts Controls Cell-Matrix Interactions Critical for Osteocyte Survival.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Bone Organoids: A Novel Tool for Modeling and Managing Skeletal Disorders in Diabetes.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- The development of a collagen-nanoscale hydroxyapatite three-dimensional (3D) in vitro culture system for reproducing osteocyte differentiation and tissue mineralization.Biomaterials · 2026Article
- Piezo1-mediated mechanotransduction controls osteocyte maturation and dendrite development via a YAP-CCN-Src signaling axis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Mechanosignaling in Osteoporosis: When Cells Feel the Force.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Osteocytes: master orchestrators of skeletal homeostasis, remodeling, and osteoporosis pathogenesis.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Investigating the potential effect of Holothuria scabra extract on osteogenic differentiation in preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Osteocyte-mediated mechanical response controls osteoblast differentiation and function.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Review
- Multiscale morphological analysis of bone microarchitecture around Mg-10Gd implants.Bioactive materials · 2023Article
- Review
- Assembling the Puzzle Pieces. Insights for in Vitro Bone Remodeling.Stem cell reviews and reports · 2023Review
- Integration of Extracellular Matrices into Organ-on-Chip Systems.Advanced healthcare materials · 2023Review
- Cellular mechanotransduction in health and diseases: from molecular mechanism to therapeutic targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- Protease-degradable hydrogels with multifunctional biomimetic peptides for bone tissue engineering.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2023Article
- A bone-on-a-chip collagen hydrogel-based model using pre-differentiated adipose-derived stem cells for personalized bone tissue engineering.Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A · 2023Article
- Review
- Calcium‑dependent activation of PHEX, MEPE and DMP1 in osteocytes.Molecular medicine reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Osteocytes are terminally differentiated bone cells, derived from osteoblasts, which are vital for the regulation of bone formation and resorption. ECM stiffness and cell seeding density have been shown to regulate osteoblast differentiation, but the precise cues that initiate osteoblast-osteocyte differentiation are not yet understood. In this study, we cultured MC3T3-E1 cells on (A) substrates of different chemical compositions and stiffnesses, as well as, (B) substrates of identical chemical composition but different stiffnesses. The effect of cell separation was investigated by seeding cells at different densities on each substrate. Cells were evaluated for morphology, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), matrix mineralisation, osteoblast specific genes (Type 1 collagen, Osteoblast specific factor (OSF-2)), and osteocyte specific proteins (dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP-1), sclerostin (Sost)). We found that osteocyte differentiation (confirmed by dendritic morphology, mineralisation, reduced ALP, Col type 1 and OSF-2 and increased DMP-1 and Sost expression) was significantly increased on soft collagen based substrates, at low seeding densities compared to cells on stiffer substrates or those plated at high seeding density. We propose that the physical nature of the ECM and the necessity for cells to establish a communication network contribute substantially to a concerted shift toward an osteocyte-like phenotype by osteoblasts in vitro.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.