Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research-Diabetes and Obesity

Volume: 2

Osteocalcin Plays as an Endocrine Hormone in Glucose Metabolism

Author(s): Ippei Kanazawa

Pp: 84-101 (18)

DOI: 10.2174/9781681081854116020006

* (Excluding Mailing and Handling)

Abstract

The number of patients with diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis are rapidly increasing especially in industrialized countries. Accumulating evidence shows that diabetes and osteoporotic fractures are associated with each other. Patients with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of fractures independent of bone mineral density compared to healthy subjects. Several key endocrine factors in glucose metabolism such as insulin and adiponectin are shown to regulate osteoblastogenesis and bone turnover. On the other hand, an excellent study using genetic mutant mice models previously demonstrated that osteocalcin, one of the osteoblast-specific proteins, has a hormonal function. Osteocalcin increases the expression of insulin in pancreatic -cells as well as adiponectin in adipocytes, resulting in preventing diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, the insulin signaling in osteoblasts is reported to regulate osteocalcin activity as well as peripheral adiposity and glucose metabolism. Also, several clinical studies showed that serum osteocalcin was inversely associated with blood glucose and visceral fat mass and positively with serum adiponectin levels, parameters of insulin secretion and its sensitivity in humans. Altogether, these experimental and clinical findings suggest that bone metabolism and glucose homeostasis are associated with each other through the action of osteocalcin. These findings are reviewed herein.


Keywords: Osteocalcin, insulin, adiponectin, diabetes mellitus, osteoblast, osteoclast, bone metabolism.

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