Demonstration of authentic osteoclasts (OCL) in long-term marrow cell cultures

It has not been possible to study osteoclast behavior directly in vitro because of the inaccessibility of these cells. Testa and Allen have reported formation of multinucleated cells in long-term cultures of feline bone marrow. The authors have now characterized these multinucleated cells as osteocl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Calcified tissue international 1983-01, Vol.35 (4-5)
Main Authors: Ibbotson, K J, Roodman, G D, Mundy, G R
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:It has not been possible to study osteoclast behavior directly in vitro because of the inaccessibility of these cells. Testa and Allen have reported formation of multinucleated cells in long-term cultures of feline bone marrow. The authors have now characterized these multinucleated cells as osteoclasts by the following criteria -capacity to resorb bone, response to osteotropic hormones, ultrastructure (presence of ruffled borders), and presence of hormone-responsive, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase. It has been shown that multinucleated cell number and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity increases in response to parathyroid hormone (PTH), prostaglandin E sub(2) and 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D sub(3). Calcitonin inhibits the effects of PTH on these cells. The progenitors of these OCL can be enriched up to 30-fold with discontinuous Percoll gradients with the OCL precursors being found predominantly in layers with density 1.06-1.04 g/ml. The studies show that these multinucleated cells fulfill the criteria for osteoclasts. Such techniques provide an in vitro system for identifying the marrow osteoclast precursor and for characterizing the direct effects of osteotropic hormones on osteoclast function.
ISSN:0171-967X