Salmon stanniocalcin and bovine parathyroid hormone have dissimilar actions on mammalian bone

Evidence for stanniocalcin gene expression in mammalian bone

Stanniocalcin (STC) acts as a regulator of calcium and phosphate homeostasis in an endocrine manner in bony fish. Recently, complementary DNAs encoding human and mouse STC have been characterized, and the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was identified in various tissues, such as kidney, small intestine, prostate, thyroid, and ovary. Because previous studies concerning the effects of fish STC on mammalian bone have been discussed, there is a good possibility that mammalian STC is a local factor in bone. Here, we demonstrated STC mRNA expression in neonatal mouse calvaria, the primary cultured mouse osteoblast-rich fractions, and human and mouse osteoblastic cell lines. We also mapped the cellular distribution of the STC mRNA in femur and calvaria in developing mice. Several transcripts with a major 4-kb band were detected in all samples. The cellular distribution of the mRNA expression corresponded closely to osteoblasts in both femur and calvaria. Significant labeling of the STC mRNA was also identified in chondrocytes but not in osteoclasts and other bone marrow elements. These results are the first evidence that hormone may be actually expressed in osteoblasts and chondrocytes, and they strongly implicate the involvement of local STC in both endochondral and membrane bone as an autocrine/paracrine factor.

Effects of a synthetic N-terminal fragment of stanniocalcin on the metabolism of mammalian bone in vitro

A synthetic peptide corresponding to the N-terminal amino acid residues of stanniocalcin (STC1-20) and including a region that is known to be an active site in teleosts was prepared and tested for its effects on the metabolism of mammalian bone in vitro. STC1-20 (10(-10)-10(-12) M) inhibited increases in the number of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive, multinucleated cells promoted by an N-terminal fragment of human parathyroid hormone (hPTH1-34) in cultures of murine hemopoietic cells. STC1-20 also slightly decreased the rate of loss of radioactivity from calvariae of fetal rats that had been prelabeled with 45Ca, both with and without stimulation by hPTH1-34. The accumulation of cAMP induced by hPTH1-34 in ROS 17/2.8-5 cells was suppressed by STC1-20 (10(-10)-10(-12) M). Treatment with STC1-20 (10(-11)-10(-13) M) caused increases of the rate of incorporation of [3H]proline into the collagenase-digestible protein of calvariae in newborn mice. From these results, it appears that STC1-20 has diverse effects on the metabolism of mammalian bone, causing a biphasic response. Such effects have not been observed with intact stanniocalcin or with materials from the corpuscles of Stannius and they are also different from the effects of hPTH1-34.

Human stanniocalcin: a possible hormonal regulator of mineral metabolism

We have isolated a human cDNA clone encoding the mammalian homolog of stanniocalcin (STC), a calcium- and phosphate-regulating hormone that was first described in fishes where it functions in preventing hypercalcemia. STC has a unique amino acid sequence and, until now, has remained one of the few polypeptide hormones never described in higher vertebrates. Human STC (hSTC) was found to be 247 amino acids long and to share 73% amino acid sequence similarity with fish STC. Polyclonal antibodies to recombinant hSTC localized to a distinct cell type in the nephron tubule, suggesting kidney as a possible site of synthesis. Recombinant hSTC inhibited the gill transport of calcium when administered to fish and stimulated renal phosphate reabsorption in the rat. The evidence suggests that mammalian STC, like its piscine counterpart, is a regulator of mineral homeostasis.