# ATTENUATION OF WOLFF'S LAW BY SYSTEMIC DISORDERS

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · 1991 · $181,488

## Abstract

DESCRIPTION:  (Adapted from investigator's abstract) The applicants propose
that the skeleton's ability to adapt to functional stimuli is directly
dependent on the organism's systemic state.  More specifically, systemic
"disorders", such as aging, nutritional deficiency or hormonal imbalance
will substantially compromise bone tissues' ability to perceive and/or
respond to the positive influences of mechanical stimuli in the control of
bone mass.  Results from the first two years of the applicant's FIRST award
demonstrate that both the location and magnitude of the remodeling response
to new mechanical regimes are specific to, and controlled by, the type of
systemic disorder.  This remodeling specificity implies that, in each
systemic population, either an altered cellular population exists, or the
mechanisms responsible for the perception of the mechanical milieu have
been perturbed.

The objective of this five year proposal is to quantify the dependence of
the remodeling response on interactions between three distinct mechanical
stimuli and five different systemic states:  (1) growth; (2) aging:  (3)
nutritional deficiency:  (4) endocrinopathy; and (5) "normal" adult.  As
the mechanical state of the functionally isolated turkey ulna preparation
is accurately controlled, and the turkey's systemic state readily altered,
this model will be exploited in the protocol.  Five populations of turkeys
will be established, four representative of one of these systemic
imbalances, while a fifth "normal adult" population will serve as a
control.  In each of these groups, the location and magnitude of the bone
tissue's remodeling response to disuse, and to two loading regimens
demonstrated as osteogenic in the normal adults, will be determined at the
matrix level by physical property measurement, at the cell and tissue level
by static and dynamic histomorphometry, and at the organ level by changes
in diaphyseal areal properties.  Any alteration or attenuations in the
response will be correlated to matrix, cell, tissue, and organ criteria of
the intact control ulnae within each group, as well as to that which occurs
in the normal.  The preliminary experiments reflect a complex, rather than
a simple inter-relationship between the mechanical environment and the
systemic state of the organism.  The proposed experiments are designed to
confirm and extend these observations, to explore the selective interaction
of the systemic and mechanical milieu, and to determine the potential which
physical stimuli possess to combat the bone loss caused by many systemic
disorders.  The applicants are confident that examination of the location
and magnitude in which systemically pressured bone tissue responds to
mechanical stimuli will improve understanding of the multifactorial
pathogenesis of osteopenia and provide new insights towards its etiology
and treatment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3159276
- **Project number:** 2R01AR039278-04A1
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
- **SAM.gov UEI:** M746VC6XMNH9
- **Principal Investigator:** CLINTON T RUBIN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $181,488
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1987-08-01 → 1996-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3159276

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3159276, ATTENUATION OF WOLFF'S LAW BY SYSTEMIC DISORDERS (2R01AR039278-04A1). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3159276. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*