Exercise increases pyridinoline cross-linking and counters the mechanical effects of concurrent lathyrogenic treatment

Abstract The collagen cross-link profile of bone, associated with bone strength and fracture toughness, is tightly regulated (affecting cross-link quantity, type, lysine hydroxylation and maturity) and may contribute to the improvements in bone quality during exercise. We hypothesized that 1) exercise promotes mature cross-link formation, 2) increased mature cross-linking is accompanied by shifts in lysine hydroxylation, and 3) these changes in collagen cross-link profile have positive effects on mechanical properties. Growing male C57Bl6 mice were treated with 30 min/day of running exercise, 350 mg/kg/day β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) injected subcutaneously to inhibit enzymatic collagen cross-linking, or both exercise and BAPN, from 5 to 8 weeks of age. Bone collagen cross-linking profile, mechanical properties, morphology, and mineralization were measured from the tibiae. Cross-link measures, including immature, pyridinoline, pyrrole and pentosidine cross-links, ratios reflecting cross-link maturity and hydroxylation, and mineralization were tested for their importance to mechanical properties across 8 week groups through correlation analyses and step-wise linear regressions. BAPN treatment significantly reduced lysylpyridinoline, pyrrole, hydroxylysinorleucine, and total mature collagen cross-linking, resulting in decreased bone elastic modulus and increased yield strain despite a marginal increase in TMD. Exercise caused a shift toward pyridinoline cross-linking, with increased hydroxylysylpyridinoline and decreased pyrrole cross-linking resulting in total mature cross-linking and estimated tissue level mechanical properties matching sedentary control levels. Exercise superimposed on BAPN treatment increased total mature cross-linking from BAPN to control levels, but did so by increasing pyridinoline, not pyrrole, cross-links. Exercise also counteracted the BAPN effects on modulus and strain, without a change in TMD. Pyrrole cross-linking was the strongest correlate of modulus (r = 0.470, p < 0.01) and yield strain (r = − 0.467, p < 0.01). Cross-links with similar levels of telopeptide lysine hydroxylation to pyrrole (lysylpyridinoline and hydroxylysinorleucine) also correlated with modulus and strain to a lesser extent. In conclusion, exercise in growing mice promotes pyridinoline collagen cross-linking in bone, the resulting increase in total mature cross-linking is sufficient to counteract the mechanical effects of concurrent cross-link inhibition, a