Thermoneutral housing has limited effects on social isolation-induced bone loss in male C57BL/6J mice.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2025

Institution/Department

Center for Molecular Medicine

Journal Title

JBMR Plus

Abstract

Social isolation stress has numerous known negative health effects, including increased risk for cardiovascular disease, dementia, as well as overall mortality. The impacts of social isolation on skeletal health, however, have not been thoroughly investigated. We previously found that 4 wk of social isolation through single housing led to a significant reduction in trabecular and cortical bone in male, but not female, mice. One possible explanation for these changes in male mice is thermal stress due to sub-thermoneutral housing and sex differences in thermal physiology. Single housing at room temperature (~20 to 25 °C)-below the thermoneutral range of mice (~26 to 34 °C)-may lead to cold stress, which has known negative effects on bone. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that housing mice near thermoneutrality, thereby ameliorating cold-stress, will prevent social isolation-induced bone loss in male C57BL/6J mice. 16-wk-old mice were randomized into social isolation (1 mouse/cage) or grouped housing (4 mice/cage) at either room temperature (~23 °C) or in a warm temperature incubator (~28 °C) for 4 wk (

ISSN

2473-4039

First Page

088

Last Page

088

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