Time course of action of calcitonin on resorbing mouse bones in vitro

A novel method for embedding neonatal murine calvaria in methyl methacrylate suitable for visualizing mineralization, cellular and structural detail

The study of undecalcified bone by histological methods is essential in the field of bone research. Culturing skeletal tissues such as neonatal murine calvaria provides a reliable bridge between assessment of bone formation in vitro and anabolic activity in vivo and contains most of the essential elements of bone for studying bone formation. Neonatal calvarial assay, supported by histological methods, is used to study the anabolic effects of a wide variety of factors and compounds on bone tissue. To optimize visualization and histomorphometric measurements using neonatal calvaria, we developed a method that provides high quality tissue sections suitable for routine and histochemical staining. Undecalcified neonatal mouse calvaria were processed and embedded using a low temperature methyl methacrylate procedure. Various staining methods were performed on deplastisized and floated sections to examine mineralization and to identify cells. The Von Kossa stain counterstained with a modified H & E yielded precise images of unmineralized bone including mineralization sites, and distinct osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Toluidine blue, Ladewig's trichrome, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, Goldner, H & E and Villanueva stains also were tested on the undecalcified neonatal calvaria sections.

Transforming growth factor beta inhibits bone resorption in fetal rat long bone cultures

TGF-beta 1 is a polypeptide that is abundant in bone matrix, is produced by bone cells, and modulates proliferation and differentiated functions of osteoblastic cells in vitro. TGF-beta 2 is a closely related polypeptide that was originally isolated from bone matrix. TGF-beta 1 has been shown previously to stimulate prostaglandin production in cultures of neonatal mouse calvariae, which causes these bones to resorb. We found similar effects with TGF-beta 2. In comparison, TGF-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2 failed to stimulate bone resorption in fetal rat long bone cultures during a 3-d incubation period in concentrations up to 50-100 times greater than those capable of inducing bone resorption in calvariae. Incubation with TGF-beta 1 for a further 3 d decreased bone resorption up to 30%. Moreover, bone resorption induced by the bone-resorbing agents IL 1 and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 was partially or completely inhibited by TGF-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2 during the second half of the 6-d incubation period. Inhibition of DNA synthesis with hydroxyurea inhibited bone resorption in long bones in a similar pattern to that seen with TGF-beta 1. The inhibitory effects of TGF-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2 on bone resorption in long bone cultures may therefore be due to inhibition of osteoclast precursor proliferation.

Pharmacological control of osteoclastic motility

We separated osteoclasts from bone and observed the effect of several known and potential mediators of the control of bone resorption on their cytoplasmic motility. We already found that calcitonin (CT), a hormone that inhibits bone resorption, regularly causes complete inhibition of cytoplasmic motility, specific for osteoclasts, through a trypsin-sensitive membrane receptor [1]. We report here that prostaglandin I2 (PGI2) and dibutyryl cyclic AMP induce an identical change in osteoclastic behavior. We found that theophylline, which inhibits intracellular cyclic AMP degradation, and which itself had no effect on osteoclastic motility, potentiated the cytoplasmic inhibition caused by CT, PGI2, and cyclic AMP. This suggests that PGI2 and CT cause cytoplasmic quiescence by increasing the intracellular level of cyclic AMP, a view compatible with the known ability of CT to increase cyclic AMP in bone [2]. Parathyroid hormone (PTH), PGE2, and 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25 (OH)2D3), hormones known to stimulate osteoclasts, did not stimulate the activity of either active or quiescent isolated osteoclasts. The undoubted ability of these hormones to stimulate osteoclastic activity in vivo may therefore be mediated through a primary hormonal interaction with another cell type.