PERIODICUM BIOLOGORUM UDC 57:61 VOL. 117, No 1, 59–64, 2015 CODEN PDBIAD ISSN 0031-5362 Trefoil factor family protein 3 affects cancellous bone formation in the secondary centers of ossification of mouse tibiae Abstract NIKOLA BIJELIĆ¹ ŽELJKA PERIĆ KAČAREVIĆ² Background and Purpose: Trefoil factor family (TFF) is a small fam- TATJANA BELOVARI¹ ily of peptides, which comprises three peptides, TFF1, TFF2 and TFF3. The RADIVOJE RADIĆ² primary sites of TFF expression and synthesis are mucous epithelia, with ¹Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of gastrointestinal mucosa being their main localization. They have a role in Medicine, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia mucosal restitution and strengthening of the normal mucosal barrier. Al- ²Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Faculty though not present in healthy articular cartilage, TFF3 is expressed in os- of Medicine, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia teoarthritis and septic arthritis affected cartilage and promotes cartilage degradation in such conditions. Also, TFF3 is present in endochondral os- Correspondence: @eljka Peri} Ka~arevi} sification during embryonic development. Since this implies a role for TFF3 Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Faculty of in the ossification process, we evaluated the histomorphometric parameters Medicine, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia of the trabecular bone in the epiphyses of mouse tibiae from wild type mice J. Huttlera 4, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia and TFF3 knock-out mice. E-mail:
[email protected] Materials and Methods: Tibiae of wild-type and knock-out mice were Key words: Trefoil factor, bone, osteogenesis, mouse isolated, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, paraffin embedded and cut into 6µm sections, which were stained using Masson’s trichrome stain.