# Immunometabolic regulation of bone inflammaging

> **NIH NIH R01** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $461,605

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Age-related inflammation and accumulation of ectopic lipid in multiple organs in elderly is associated with bone
loss, frailty and chronic diseases. For example, bone and thymus are the major primary lymphoid organs that
progressively accumulate ectopic lipid and adipocytes in humans and mouse models. The sympathetic
nervous system (SNS) regulates all organ systems by localized release of catecholamines from post-synaptic
vesicles in a rapid fashion without the time-lag required to complete events that control transcriptional
activation or post-translational regulation of specific cytokines or adipokines. The catecholamines released
from SNS in various local tissue niches is required for fatty acid oxidation, a process that is impaired in elderly.
The key questions this proposal aims to address is: A) How does aging cause accumulation of ectopic lipid in
bone marrow? B) Whether increase in ectopic lipid serves as an associative trigger for increase in bone
inflammation and osteoporosis seen during aging. C) Can one prevent bone loss and ectopic accumulation in
aging by targeting the mechanisms that link immune-metabolic crosstalk? These questions emanate from our
discovery that aging is associated with increased degradation of norepinephrine (NE) due to elevated
expression of Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA), a catecholamine degradation enzyme. The long-term goal of
this project is to decipher neuro-immune crosstalk that controls bone inflammation and to target this
mechanism to develop new approaches to maintain or enhance bone function in elderly.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10641819
- **Project number:** 5R01AG076782-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** VISHWA DEEP DIXIT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $461,605
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-06-15 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10641819

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10641819, Immunometabolic regulation of bone inflammaging (5R01AG076782-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10641819. Licensed CC0.

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