Abstract
Diabetes is associated with heightened susceptibility to bone fractures. This vulnerability may be due to Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs), crosslinks that form in presence of sugar and trigger receptor for AGEs (RAGE), suppress bone turnover, and escalate inflammatory responses [1]. Supplementation with L-Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C, vitC) enhances islet cell function in diabetics, mitigating the complications of this disease [2]. Our goal was to investigate the effect of vitC on osteocyte behavior while in a high glucose environment. We hypothesized that exposure of osteocytes to vitC, in conjunction with elevated glucose levels, would result in increased cell proliferation, decreased cell apoptosis, and downregulation of bone remodeling (SOST/Sclerostin) and inflammation (RAGE/IL-6) markers.