$$\rightleftharpoonup{xx}$$
$$\longleftharp{xx}$$,
$$\longrightharp{xx}$$,
It is generally known that bone is under constant reconstruction throughout life, in response to mechanical forces according to Wolff's law1,2. Appropriate mechanical stimulation, such as gravity and daily exercise, maintains bone mass and strength and prevents bone loss by stimulating both osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Osteoclasts, responsible for bone resorption3,4,5,6,7, and osteoblasts, responsible for bone formation8,9,10, maintain bone homeostasis and function jointly in the biological process of bone remodeling. In contrast, in the absence of loading stimuli, as in astronauts under long-term microgravity, bones suffer 10% bone mineral density loss, thus increasing the risk of osteoporosis11,12. Furthermore, noninvasive and convenient mechanical therapies, including orthodontics and distraction osteogenesis, have emerged as treatments for bone diseases13,14. All these have shown that mechanical force plays a critical role in maintaining bone quality and quantity. Recent studies generally analyzed bone remodeling in response to mechanical loading using time-consuming models such as running wheel and tail suspension tests, which usually took 4 weeks or more to simulate force loading or unloading15,16. Therefore, there is demand for a convenient and efficient animal model for studying bone remodeling driven by force loading.
The alveolar bone is the most active in terms of bone remodeling, with a high turnover rate17. Orthodontic tooth movement (OTM), a common treatment for malocclusion, is an artificial process of alveolar bone remodeling in response to mechanical force. However, OTM, which induces rapid bone remodeling18, is also a time-saving way to study the effects of mechanical force on bone remodeling compared with other models with a long experimental period. Therefore, OTM is an ideal model to study bone remodeling under mechanical stimuli. It is noteworthy that the mechanism of alveolar bone remodeling is often time-sensitive, and it is necessary to observe the changes in alveolar bone remodeling at certain time points after modeling. With the dual advantages of temporal and spatial control of DNA recombination and tissue specificity, an inducible conditional gene knockout mouse model is a suitable choice for OTM studies.
Conventionally, OTM-mediated alveolar bone remodeling has been divided into tension zones involving bone formation and pressure zones involving bone resorption19,20,21, which is more detailed but difficult to regulate. Furthermore, Yuri et al. reported that the time of bone formation in OTM differed on the tension and compression sides22. In addition, a previous study had demonstrated that the first molar could initiate wide remodeling of the maxillary alveolar bone under orthodontic force, which was not constrained to the tension and pressure zones23. Therefore, we selected the area located within three roots of M1 in the cross-section of the maxillary bone as the region of interest (ROI) and described methods to assess the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts in the same area to evaluate alveolar bone remodeling under OTM.
As a nuclear transcription factor, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) has been proven critical in bone homeostasis24,25. Previous studies have reported low bone mineral density and recurrent pathological fractures in Stat3-mutant mice26,27. Our previous study demonstrated that deletion of Stat3 in Osx+ osteoblasts caused craniofacial malformation and osteoporosis, as well as spontaneous bone fracture28. Recently, we provided in vivo evidence with an inducible osteoblast-specific Stat3 deletion mouse model (Col1α2CreERT2; Stat3fl/fl, hereafter called Stat3Col1α2ERT2) that STAT3 is critical in mediating the effects of orthodontic force driving alveolar bone remodeling29. In this study, we provide methods and protocols for using inducible osteoblast lineage-specific Stat3 knockout mice to study bone remodeling under orthodontic force and describe methods for analyzing alveolar bone remodeling during OTM, thus shedding light on skeletal mechanical biology.