Peter Pietschmann

• Division Leader at Medical University of Vienna

A huge number of inbred mouse strains with different bone properties has become available for musculoskeletal research. C57Bl/6 J and C3H/HeOuJ mice show a significant difference in their bone characteristics. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge on the molecular basis of these strain differences. The aim of this study is to determine the gen...

Hypoparathyroidism (hypoPT) is characterized by acute and chronic complications due to insufficient parathyroid hormone (PTH) production or action. Several management guidelines have been developed, but mostly based on evidence from Western countries. Data from Eastern countries have not been systematically compared with those from Western countrie...

Background Risk factors of refracture after fragility fractures include osteoporosis, female gender and advanced age among others. We hypothesized that the assessment of functionality, muscle health and nutrition status contribute to the risk prediction for further fractures and death. Methods We assessed 334 patients admitted to the department of...

Background: Austria is among the countries with the highest incidence and prevalence of osteoporotic fractures worldwide. Guidelines for the prevention and management of osteoporosis were first published in 2010 under the auspices of the then Federation of Austrian Social Security Institutions and updated in 2017. The present comprehensively updat...

Bone health is ensured by the coordinated action of two types of cells—the osteoblasts that build up bone structure and the osteoclasts that resorb the bone. The loss of balance in their action results in pathological conditions such as osteoporosis. Central to this study is a class of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that regulates the biogenesis of mi...

Age‐induced decline in osteogenic potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) potentiates osteoporosis and increases the risk for bone fractures. Despite epidemiology studies reporting concurrent development of vascular and bone diseases in the elderly, the underlying mechanisms for the vascular‐bone cross‐talk in aging are largely unkn...

Simple Summary Osteoarthritis is a common complex disease, which affects the whole joint and causes disability in millions of patients. Currently, there is no cure for this disease; there is only the possibility of symptomatic therapy. Due to this, animal models play an important role in further investigating the pathophysiology and developing ther...

SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with musculoskeletal manifestations, including a negative effect on bone health. Bone formation was found to be reduced in COVID-19 patients. The aim of this case-control study was to determine whether bone metabolism is coupled or uncoupled in COVID-19 patients with moderately severe disease, the latter exp...

Hypoparathyroidism is a relatively rare human and veterinary disease characterized by deficient or absent production of parathyroid hormone (PTH). PTH is known as a classical regulator of calcium and phosphorus homeostasis. Nevertheless, the hormone also appears to modulate immune functions. For example, increased CD4:CD8 T-cell ratios and elevated...

Background A mere 25% of patients who need treatment for osteoporosis receive appropriate therapy, partly due to the time-consuming and stressful diagnostic workup for older patients with functional decline. Aims The purpose of the present study was to investigate the accuracy of pulse-echo ultrasound measurement of the lower leg for the detection...

Zusammenfassung Diabetes mellitus und Osteoporose zählen zu den häufigsten chronischen Erkrankungen und kommen deshalb beide häufig in ein und demselben Individuum vor. Da die Prävalenz beider mit steigendem Alter zunimmt, wird in Anbetracht der Altersstruktur unserer Bevölkerung deren Häufigkeit zunehmen. Patient:innen mit Diabetes haben ein erhöh...

Background: Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is characterized by a phenotypic switch of valvular interstitial cells to bone-forming cells. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are evolutionarily conserved pattern recognition receptors at the interface between innate immunity and tissue repair. Type I interferons (IFNs) are not only crucial for an adequa...

Background Combining mouse experiments with big data analysis of the Austrian population, we investigated the association between high-dose statin treatment and bone quality. Methods The bone microarchitecture of the femur and vertebral body L4 was measured in male and ovariectomized female mice on a high-fat diet containing simvastatin (1.2 g/kg)...

Simple Summary Cells embedded in bone, so-called osteocytes, regulate bone metabolism by releasing various factors. Mouse studies are used both to investigate the background of various diseases and during the development of drugs. This is particularly relevant for osteoporosis, a disease characterized by a reduction of bone mass and an increased ri...

It remains uncertain which skeletal sites and parameters should be analyzed in rodent studies evaluating bone health and disease. In this cross-sectional mouse study using micro-computed tomography (µCT), we explored: (1) which microstructural parameters can be used to discriminate female from male bones and (2) whether it is meaningful to evaluate...

Context MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, single-stranded, non-coding RNAs which regulate gene expression. They originate from various tissues including bone and regulate different biological mechanisms including bone metabolism. Objective The aim of this project was to investigate circulating miRNAs as promising biomarkers for treatment monitoring in...

The adoption of the management pathway proposed by the National Osteoporosis Guideline Group (NOGG), UK applied using the Austrian FRAX® tool in a referral population of Austrian women categorises 22–29% of women age 40 years or more eligible for treatment of whom 28–34% are classified at very high risk. Purpose The aim of this study is to provide...

The systemic nature of COVID-19 with multiple extrapulmonary manifestations of disease, largely due to the wide tissue expression of SARS-CoV-2 major entry factors, as well as the patient-specific features of COVID-19 pathobiology, determine important directions for basic and translational research. In the current study, we addressed the questions...

The association of obesity with changes in bone mass is not clear. Obese individuals tend to have an increased bone mineral density, but other studies have shown that obesity is a major risk factor for fractures. The mechanisms of bone response during a weight loss therapy as well as the possible osteoprotective effect of exercise should be analyze...

Metabolic bone disease is a devastating condition in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). We investigated the effects of early administration of the antiresorptive drug denosumab on bone metabolism in previously healthy patients. Fourteen patients with severe intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage were included in a p...

Context Plant-based lifestyle is a global trend, lower bone mineral density and increased fracture risk in vegan people are reported. Objective Primary objective: To assess trabecular and cortical bone microarchitecture in vegans and omnivores. Secondary objectives: To evaluate relationships between bone microarchitecture, nutrition parameters and...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease, is characterized by the presence of symmetric polyarthritis predominantly of the small joints that leads to severe cartilage and bone destruction. Based on animal and human data, the pathophysiology of osteoporosis, a frequent comorbidity in conjunction with RA, was delineated. Autoimmune inflammato...

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a frequent age-related disease, which affects millions of people worldwide. Despite significant progress in the treatment of the disease, a high number of patients still are underdiagnosed and undertreated. Therefore, novel animal models for the investigation of the disease are necessary. Nothobranchius furzeri is the...

Tuberculosis is among the leading causes of death from infectious diseases and affects many organ systems, including the skeleton. Skeletal tuberculosis is an extrapulmonary stage of tuberculosis, which occurs after the early and post-primary pulmonary stages of the disease. The aim of our study was to assess the microarchitecture of historic dry b...

Background: Metabolic bone disease is a devastating condition in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). We investigated the effects of the antiresorptive drug denosumab on bone metabolism in previously healthy patients. Methods: Fourteen patients with severe intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage were included in a phas...

Age-related chronic diseases are an enormous burden to modern societies worldwide. Among these, osteoporosis, a condition that predisposes individuals to an increased risk of fractures, substantially contributes to increased mortality and health-care costs in elderly. It is now well accepted that advanced chronical age is one of the main risk facto...

This study has established the impact that space radiation exposure has on the capability of rats to successfully negotiate behavioral tasks of increasing complexity. Rats previously exposed to a low dose (10 cGy) of either 4He ions or a cocktail of 6 ions that simulates the galactic cosmic ray spectrum (GCRSim) were screened initially on an attent...

Microbiota can both negatively and positively impact radiation-induced bone loss. Our prior research showed that compared to mice with conventional gut microbiota (CM), mice with restricted gut microbiota (RM) reduced inflammatory tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in bone marrow, interleukin (IL)-17 in blood, and chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20 (CCL20) i...

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor 1 (M-CSF) is known to play a critical role during fracture repair e.g. by recruiting stem cells to the fracture site and impacting hard callus formation by stimulating osteoclastogenesis. The aim of this experiment was to study the impact of systemic M-CSF application and its effect on bony healing in a mouse mo...

Background/Purpose The anal sphincter complex (ASC) plays a key-role in continence and is often dysfunctional in infants born with anorectal malformations (ARM). The ASC is well depicted by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging but volumetric reference data are lacking in infants. Thus, we tested the feasibility of MR-based ASC volumetry, collected refer...

This narrative review focuses on the evolution and history of osteoimmunology, which is a research field that investigates the interactions between bone and components of the immune system. Looking at the evolution of bone, bone development dates back approximately 540 million years. Osteoimmune aspects can also be found in different bone-related d...

The AID (activation-induced cytidine deaminase)/APOBEC (apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic subunit) family with its multifaceted mode of action emerges as potent intrinsic host antiviral system that acts against a variety of DNA and RNA viruses including coronaviruses. All family members are cytosine-to-uracil deaminases that either hav...

Zusammenfassung Asthma und COPD sind die häufigsten obstruktiven Atemwegserkrankungen. Die chronische Inflammation bedingt eine Induktion von proinflammatorischen Zytokinkaskaden. Neben der systemischen Inflammation tragen Hypoxämie, Hyperkapnie, eine katabole Stoffwechsellage, eine gonadale oder eine Schilddrüsendysfunktion, eine muskuloskelettale...

A specific signature of 19 circulating miRNAs (osteomiRs) has been reported to be associated with fragility fractures due to postmenopausal osteoporosis. However, it is unknown whether osteoporotic fractures or low BMD phenotypes are independently contributing to changes in osteomiR serum levels. The first aim was to characterize the abundance, sen...

Background and objectives: Enamel matrix derivative (EMD) is produced from developing porcine tooth buds and represents a complex of low-molecular-weight hydrophobic enamel proteins. EMD is widely applied in periodontal regeneration. Osteoclasts are multinuclear cells, which are responsible for bone resorption. The precursors of osteoclasts, hemato...

Background In tertiary syphilis, Treponema pallidum triggers the formation of granulomatous nodules in various organs of the human body. Within the skeleton, predominantly in the skull and long bones, these characteristic syphilitic lesions cause typical patterns of bone damage. In this study, micro-computed tomography (µ-CT) was used to assess the...

Background Circulating serum sclerostin levels are supposed to give a good estimation of the levels of this negative regulator of bone mass within bone. Most studies evaluating total serum sclerostin found different levels in males compared to females and in older compared to younger subjects. Besides an ELISA detecting total sclerostin an ELISA de...

Background In dermatomyostis (DM) patients, inflammation, reduced activity, and medication have a negative impact on the musculoskeletal system. Several endocrine factors are involved in muscle growth and bone turnover. Objective: We aimed to investigate factors regulating myogenesis and bone metabolism and to evaluate possible associations between...

MicroRNAs regulate bone homeostasis and circulating microRNAs have been proposed as novel bone biomarkers. The effect of anti‐osteoporotic treatment on circulating microRNAs has not been described in detail. Therefore, we performed a comprehensive analysis of microRNA serum levels in OVX and SHAM rats over 12 weeks of anti‐resorptive or osteo‐anabo...

Muscle force is thought to be one of the main determinants of bone development. Hence, peak muscle growth is expected to precede peak bone growth. In this study, we investigated muscle and bone development in female C57BL/6 J, DBA/2JRj, and C3H/HeOuJ mice. Femoral cortical and trabecular bone structure and the weights of selected muscles were asses...

Simple Summary Today, the presence of well-organized functional structures of immune cells at tumor sites, known as ectopic lymphoid structures, and their strong association with patient survival have been reported in more than ten different cancer types. We aimed to investigate whether there is a link between the patient-specific characteristics o...

Objectives Healthy bones need to be loaded on a regular basis. However, overstrenuous exercise causes uncoupling of bone metabolism. Thus, it is important to be aware of exercise-induced alterations in bone metabolism. The aim of this observational study was to determine whether participation in an ultradistance run has an impact on the phosphaturi...

Hyperphosphatemic conditions such as chronic kidney disease are associated with severe muscle wasting and impaired life quality. While regeneration of muscle tissue is known to be reliant on recruitment of myogenic progenitor cells, the effects of elevated phosphate loads on this process have not been investigated in detail so far. This study aims...

Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease that, on a cellular level, results from osteoclastic bone resorption not compensated by osteoblastic bone formation. This causes bones to become weak and fragile, thus increasing the risk of fractures. Traditional pathophysiological concepts of osteoporosis focused on endocrine mechanisms such as estrogen or...

Saliva was proposed as a diagnostic tool for systemic diseases. Here we determined the correlation of bone turnover markers in saliva, bone turnover markers in serum and bone mineral density in postmenopausal osteoporotic and healthy women. Forty postmenopausal osteoporotic and 40 age-matched healthy non-osteoporotic females were recruited for this...

Background: In dermatomyostis (DM) patients, inflammation, reduced activity, and medication have a negative impact on the musculoskeletal system. Several endocrine factors are involved in muscle growth and bone turnover. Objective: We aimed to investigate factors regulating myogenesis and bone metabolism and to evaluate possible associations betwee...

Background: In dermatomyostis (DM) patients, inflammation, reduced activity, and medication have a negative impact on the musculoskeletal system. Several endocrine factors are involved in muscle growth and bone turnover. Objective: We aimed to investigate factors regulating myogenesis and bone metabolism and to evaluate possible associations betwee...

Background: In dermatomyostis (DM) patients, inflammation, reduced activity, and medication have a negative impact on the musculoskeletal system. Several endocrine factors are involved in muscle growth and bone turnover. Objective: We aimed to investigate factors regulating myogenesis and bone metabolism and to evaluate possible associations betwee...

Objectives: To assess the diagnostic potential of bidirectional axial transmission (BDAT) ultrasound, and high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) in X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH, OMIM #307800), a rare genetic disorder of phosphate metabolism caused by mutations in the PHEX gene. Methods: BDAT bone ultrasound was perf...

Introduction: Muscle and bone metabolism are both important for the healing of fractures and the regeneration of injured muscle tissue. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate myostatin and other regulating factors in patients with hip fractures who underwent hemi-arthroplasty. Methods: Serum levels of myostatin (MSTN), follistatin (FSTN),...

Objectives To assess the diagnostic potential of bidirectional axial transmission (BDAT) ultrasound, and high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) in X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH, OMIM #307800), a rare genetic disorder of phosphate metabolism caused by mutations in the PHEX gene. Methods BDAT bone ultrasound was perfo...

We explored age- and strain-related differences in bone microstructure and body composition in male C57BL/6J, DBA/2JRj and C3H/J mice. Bone microstructure of the femur, tibia and L4 was assessed by μCT at the age of 8, 16 and 24 weeks. The weight of several muscles and fat depots were measured at the same time points. At all timepoints, C3H/J mice...

Objective: Actinomycosis infection of bone is rare and its diagnosis challenging. Here, we aim to identify and verify its microstructural features and the potential value for differential diagnosis. Materials: We investigated the dry preparation of the lumbar vertebrae and pelvic ring of a purported case of actinomycosis documented by a post-mortem...

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The last sentence should read: Patients with ALD had significantly lower sclerostin levels, compared to controls. The authors apologize for the mistake.

Background: Patients with hepatic cirrhosis are at increased risk of bone loss. Recent work on areal bone mineral density has reported contradictory findings. As the assessment of bone microarchitecture is complex, a search was made for correlations with new serum markers of bone turnover. Current data on serum sclerostin levels in patients with in...

MicroRNAs control the activity of a variety of genes that are pivotal to bone metabolism. Therefore, the clinical utility of miRNAs as biomarkers and drug targets for bone diseases certainly merits further investigation. This study describes the use of an animal model of postmenopausal osteoporosis to generate a comprehensive dataset on miRNA regul...

Purpose After successful surgery for primary hyperparathyroidism, bone mineral density (BMD) does not improve equally in all patients. As no trial has so far aimed to influence normalization of BMD, it was the goal of this investigation to determine whether pharmacological treatment is effective in improving regain of BMD after successful parathyro...

Although Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) is the second most common metabolic bone disease, there is only limited information about the microarchitecture of affected bones. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine cortical and trabecular bone properties in clinically relevant locations by microcomputed tomography (µCT). Ten femora and ten tib...

Purpose of review: In view of the existing uncertainty about the implications of intentional weight loss in older obese adults, the present review (a) summarizes the available evidence from epidemiological and interventional studies concerning the effects of weight loss through lifestyle modifications on skeletal health parameters in older overwei...

Musculoskeletal aging is a major public health interesting and strain due to the significant demographic modifications in the population, and it is linked to high risk of falls, loss of autonomy in elderly individuals and institutionalization with small health outcomes. Thus, this pathological status is related to high morbidity and health care rat...

Background: The objective of this study was to characterize tumor activity and mineralization status in newly-detected multiple myeloma (MM) bone lesions using 2-18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG)-PET/CT and 18F-sodium fluoride (18F-NaF)-PET/CT before and after antitumor treatment. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, seven pa...

MicroRNAs control the activity of a variety of genes that are pivotal to bone metabolism. Therefore, the clinical utility of miRNAs as biomarkers and drug targets for bone diseases certainly merits further investigation. This study describes the use of an animal model of postmenopausal osteoporosis to generate a comprehensive dataset on miRNA regul...

Summary: Liver cirrhosis leads to bone loss. To date, information on bone quality (three-dimensional microarchitecture) and, thus, bone strength is scarce. We observed decreased bone quality at both assessed sites, independent of disease severity. Therefore, all patients should undergo early-stage screening for osteoporosis. Introduction: Recent st...

Recipients of lung transplantation (LuTx) may experience impaired muscle function and bone metabolism even after rehabilitation. We investigated the potential use of musculoskeletal markers in identifying the impairment of muscle function and bone function in these patients. Biochemical parameters, bodily functions, and lung function of 37 LuTx rec...

Objectives A considerable portion of the adult population has received and/or is receiving treatment with antiresorptive drugs ( ARD s). It is thus relevant to assess possible side effects of ARD intake in connection to various aspects of implant therapy. The aim of this study was to answer the focused question “In patients with systemic intake of...

Traditionally, osteoporosis has been predominantly studied in women; nevertheless, men are not protected from bone loss and its complications. Remarkably, mortality after osteoporotic fractures is higher in men compared to women. In men, both estrogens and androgens play an important role in the regulation of bone turnover. Pathophysiological speci...

Background Chronic inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with disturbances in muscle and bone metabolism. Aim The purpose of this study was to investigate whether endocrine regulators of myogenesis and bone metabolism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in remission differed from unaffected healthy controls. An additional...

Background Although chronic alcohol consumption in adults is an established risk factor for osteoporotic fractures, there is a huge gap in our knowledge about bone effects of binge drinking in adolescents. The aim of this pilot study was therefore to assess skeletal effects of binge alcohol drinking using prepubescent pigs as a large animal model....

The assessment of bone quality and the prediction of fracture risk in idiopathic osteoporosis (IOP) are complex prospects as bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover markers (BTM) do not indicate fracture-risk. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are promising new biomarkers for bone diseases, but the current understanding of the biological information containe...

Objective: Prolonged hypocalcaemia but normal intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels after surgery for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) are referred to as "hungry bone syndrome" (HBS). The aim was to evaluate preoperative risk factors for HBS with a focus on the impact of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency. Design: Patients having unde...

Abstract: Severe burn injury triggers massive alterations in stress hormone levels with a dose-dependent hypermetabolic status including increased bone resorption. This study evaluated bone microarchitecture measured by non-invasive high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT). Changes of serum bone turnover markers (BTM) a...

The authors describe a cross-disciplinary collaboration in which they apply both a qualitative/quantitative and a choreographic analysis to the gestures immunologists use when lecturing on immunity. They identify particular spatiotemporal features by which immunologists have mapped, embodied and blended the conceptual spaces of the molecular and ce...

Fragility fractures due to osteoporosis and its most dreaded complication – hip fractures – are the cause of disability, high mortality and place a considerable burden on global health economics. Although much work has been done to accurately predict mortality and find risk factors for poor health outcome, little attention was given to the Wnt-cate...

Bone is a very active tissue that is constantly remodeled in order to adapt to mechanic or metabolic requirements. Since disturbances in bone remodeling may result in relevant skeletal diseases, there is great interest in tools to assess bone remodeling for scientific and clinical applications. Bone turnover markers (BTMs) are among these tools; th...

Fragility fractures are defined as fractures that occur as a result of a minimal trauma, such as a fall from standing height or less, or in the absence of an obvious trauma. When getting older, the probability to sustain a fragility fracture increases. This age-related increase is even more pronounced in women due to the sudden drop in sex steroid...

Introduction: Sphingolipids belong to a complex class of lipid molecules that are crucially involved in the regulation of important biological processes including proliferation, migration and apoptosis. Given the significant progress made in understanding the sphingolipid pathobiology of several diseases, sphingolipid-related checkpoints emerge as...

The benefits of exercise on bone density, structure and turnover markers are rather controversial. The present study aimed to examine the effects of hypertrophy exercise (HE) on bone. 20 male Wistar rats were randomly distributed in 2 experimental groups, one performing HE and the other untrained over 12 weeks. Plasma parameters, bone mineral conte...

The aim of this study was to analyse the posterior maxillary sinus based on its extension into the alveolar process and to provide a simple clinical classification. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in CT scans of 200 dentate and 200 edentulous patients (100 women and 100 men, respectively). After manual placement of 12 reference points mo...

The aim of this study was to examine whether alterations caused by diabetes in calcium homeostasis, expression of osteopontin and the microarchitecture of bone are corrected by exposure to vanadium. Four study groups were examined over a period of five weeks: control (C), diabetic (DM), diabetic treated with 1 mg V per d (DMV), and diabetic treated...

Metabolic/endocrinological diseases of bone are a major topic in human medicine, but are not that frequent in veterinary medicine. We will focus on two major bone diseases of human medicine, namely, osteoporosis and hyperparathyroidism, and compare their expression and pathophysiology in companion animals. In humans, postmenopausal osteoporosis is...

Introduction: Little is known about the impact of the skeletal fracture site in conjunction with the severity of a past fracture (high- or low-trauma preceding fracture) and its effect on future fracture risk. Methods: Patients with de novo high- and low-trauma fractures admitted to seven large trauma centers across Austria between 2000 and 2012 we...