# : Complex systems analysis of the impact of alcohol on bone in non-human primates

> **NIH NIH R01** · OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $325,455

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Understanding the impact of alcohol consumption on bone health is important because alcohol influences bone
metabolism and over half of the adult population in the United States drinks alcoholic beverages. Low to
moderate levels of alcohol consumption are generally associated with beneficial skeletal effects while chronic
alcohol abuse predisposes individuals to bone fractures. The long-term goal of our research is to delineate the
primary mechanisms mediating the divergent skeletal effects of low/moderate and heavy alcohol consumption.
An appreciation of the precise effects and mechanisms of action of alcohol on bone metabolism is important
because of the enormous economic, social and personal burden associated with poor bone health. Progress in
understanding the actions of alcohol on bone metabolism are hampered by (1) the extreme difficulty in
performing intervention studies in humans, (2) limitations of commonly used animal models, (3) failure to
adequately consider alcohol’s effects on tissue and organ systems that impact bone, and (4) difficulty in
accurately replicating human drinking behavior in animals. The studies proposed in this R01 application will
overcome limitations of human and prior animal studies by using a non-human primate (monkey) model for
voluntary alcohol consumption that mimics the full range of human drinking behavior. We will use linear
regression models, multivariate linear regression models, machine learning, and systems analysis to establish
the impact of pattern of alcohol consumption (none, light/moderate, binge, heavy and very heavy) on bone
metabolism in rhesus (Macaca mulatta; n=105) and cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis; n=86) macaques in the
context of sex, age and alcohol-induced perturbations in tissue and organ systems that can influence bone. We
will identify the latter perturbations by determining the effect of alcohol on specific protein (e.g., peptide
hormones and cytokines) and small molecule (e.g., steroid hormones) effectors in blood. Our central
hypothesis, based in part on our preliminary data in rats, macaques and humans, is that changes in the blood
levels of bone-active hormones and cytokines, derived from several tissues/organs, in response to alcohol
intake act in concert to modulate bone cell number and activity. To test our hypothesis, we propose the
following two Specific Aims: Specific Aim 1: Define the correlative relationships between the quantity and
pattern of alcohol consumption and bone in male and female macaques. Specific Aim 2: Define the correlative
relationships among blood ethanol levels, key bone active hormones and cytokines, and biochemical markers
of bone turnover in male and female macaques. At the completion of this project, we expect to have
established that the magnitude of skeletal response to alcohol will correlate with changes in serum biochemical
markers of bone turnover which, in turn, will correlate with changes in circulating levels of specific hor...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9939411
- **Project number:** 5R01AA026289-04
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** URSZULA T IWANIEC
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $325,455
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-20 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9939411

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9939411, : Complex systems analysis of the impact of alcohol on bone in non-human primates (5R01AA026289-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9939411. Licensed CC0.

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