Table 4.

Function of the bone ECM in osteocytes.

Bone ECM	Functions in osteocytes	Mechanism	Cell/Mice model	Reference
Type I collagen	Osteocyte mineralization (+)	Collagen deposition and collagen-fiber network compaction	GFP-col+/−/Dmp1-Cre+/−/tdTomato+/− mice	(Shiflett et al., 2019)
DMP1	Osteocyte attachment (+); Osteocyte apoptosis (−)	External mechanical force	Col4a3−/− mice	(Gluhak-Heinrich et al., 2003; Dussold et al., 2019)
MEPE	Osteocyte mineralization (+)	External mechanical force	MEPE−/− mice	(Gluhak-Heinrich et al., 2007)