BSCB Newsletter, Autumn 2009

The 55th meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society
22–25 February 2009, Las Vegas, USA

The annual meeting of the ORS is widely recognized to be a key meeting in the field of connective tissue physiology and pathology.  With 2481 accepted abstracts, a record number studies were presented to the ORS and I looked forward to the opportunity to presenting my work to such an international audience.

In February this year I travelled to Las Vegas, USA to present some of my recent research at the 55th meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society.  This year, the meeting was held in the ornate Venetian styled Hotel-Casino in the heart of the infamous Vegas Strip.  Not to be outdone by the surrounding hotel themes such as the volcano and pirate ship, the Venetian sports its very own serenaded gondola ride experience.

The conference structure consisted of four concurrent early morning workshops, with the remainder of the day divided between numerous parallel sessions.  Fortunately, the time difference between London and Las Vegas made the morning workshops a little easier to catch after a long-haul flight!  The topics highlighted in the morning workshops included the role of Primary Cilia as a mechanosensor within skeletal tissues such as bone (CR Jacobs, New York) and cartilage (A Poole, Dunedin, New Zealand), Emerging imaging techniques for the assessment of cartilage damage such as Atomic force microscopy (A Grodzinsky, Cambridge, MA), and the use of infrared spectral assessment of cartilage in situ (N Pleshko, Philadelphia, PA) and the development of novel biomaterials intended to advance the repair of the soft tissues, tendon and ligament.  In addition to the formal speaker sessions, highlighted poster and exhibit sessions allowed more informal meetings and the opportunity to accommodate the ever increasing number of submitted abstracts. 

A particular highlight for me was the workshop “orthopaedic complications in animal models of aging”.  This workshop related the role of oxidative stress to the effects of age-related pathology.   Aging is associated with tissue degeneration as well as a reduced capacity of regeneration.  For orthopaedics, age-related pathologies include disc degeneration, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and poor healing of bone fractures. These conditions have an increasing incidence with advancing age so this topic was of particular interest to the cartilage research community as well as being of much wider interest.    Dr Laura Niedernhofer (Pittsburgh, PA) was the first speaker in this workshop and began by discussing the role of developing mouse models of accelerated aging.  As well as many visual signs and symptoms that we recognize in aging animals, the mice expressing an accelerated aging phenotype also developed arthritic conditions at a considerably earlier age compared to wild type mice.  These animals, it is proposed, can then be used as tools for screening potential mediating factors in the aging process.  Preliminary studies of the Pittsburgh group now use the mice to test the efficacy and potential signaling pathways through which such age-associated diseases are mediated, with some encouraging findings in the field of oxidative stress and the ameliorating effects of antioxidants. 

The theme of oxidative stress and its inhibition was continued in a later podium presentation given by the group headed by J Buckwalter (Iowa city, IA).  Here, a fascinating study was described whereby chondrocytes react to impact trauma to cartilage by an increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS).  It is well established that mitochondria are a key source of ROS in cells, and the investigators described the successful inhibition of ROS by treating the damaged tissue with a mitochondrial inhibitor, rotenone.  The ROS levels appeared reduced and, to satisfy the goal of the study, viability was protected in the event of impact trauma.  This study was a little surprising if it is considered that chondrocytes have an exceptionally low level of mitochondria and typically derive 95% of their energy from glycolysis.  This work further highlights the role that mitochondria play in cell signaling cascades, and act as more than simple ATP generators!

The final day of the ORS meeting traditionally overlaps with the meeting of the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons in an ORS/ AAOS combined day and the 2009 meeting retained this tradition.  The paper sessions during the combined symposia tend to be of a more clinical nature.  At the end of an intense science meeting it is a good opportunity for the researchers to reflect on the final goal of our collective work, taking the studies from bench to bedside by translating basic science into new therapeutic strategies.  The combined sessions concluded the meeting on Wednesday, leaving a little time to explore the nearby Red Rocks Canyon before my onward journey to a lab visit in California.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the BSCB for the Honor Fell award that made it possible to travel to Las Vegas in order to present my work at this meeting

Hannah Heywood
Cell and Tissue Laboratory
School of Engineering and Materials Science
Queen Mary, University of London.