Estrogen deficiency causes bone loss, which can be prevented by estrogen replacement therapy. Using a recently developed technique for isolation of highly purified mammalian osteoclasts, we showed that 17 β-estradiol (E2) was able to directly inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption. At concentrations effective for inhibiting bone resorption, E2 also directly induced osteoclast apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner. ICI164,384 and tamoxifen, as pure and partial antagonists, respectively, completely or partially blocked the effect of E2 on both inhibition of osteoclastic bone resorption and induction of osteoclast apoptosis. These data suggest that the protective effects of estrogen against postmenopausal osteoporosis are mediated in part by the direct induction of apoptosis of the bone-resorbing osteoclasts by an estrogen receptor– mediated mechanism.

In bone development and regeneration, angiogenesis and bone/cartilage resorption are essential processes and are closely associated with each other, suggesting a common mediator for these two biological events. To address this interrelationship, we examined the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the most critical growth factor for angiogenesis, on osteoclastic bone-resorbing activity in a culture of highly purified rabbit mature osteoclasts. VEGF caused a dose-and time-dependent increase in the area of bone resorption pits excavated by the isolated osteoclasts, partially by enhancing the survival of the cells. Two distinct VEGF receptors, KDR/Flk-1 and Flt-1, were detectable in osteoclasts at the gene and protein levels, and VEGF induced tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins in osteoclasts. Thus, osteoclastic function and angiogenesis are upregulated by a common mediator such as VEGF.z 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

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Mechanical loading is crucial for maintenance of bone integrity and architecture, and prostaglandins are an important mediator of mechanosensing. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an inducible isoform of prostaglandin G/H synthase, is induced by mechanical loading-derived fluid shear stress in bone-forming cells such as osteoblasts and osteocytes. In this study, we investigated transcription factor and transcriptional regulatory elements responsible for the shear stress-induced COX-2 expression in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. When the cells were transfected with luciferase-reporter plasmids including the 5-flanking region of the murine cox-2 gene, the fluid shear stress increased the luciferase activities, consistent with the induction of COX-2 mRNA and protein expression. Deletion analysis of the promoter region revealed that the shear stress-induced luciferase responses were regulated by two regions, ؊172 to ؊100 base pair (bp) and ؊79 to ؊46 bp, of the cox-2 promoter, in which putative cis-elements of C/EBP ␤, AP-1, cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB), and E box are included. Mutation of sites of C/EBP ␤, AP-1, and/or cAMP-response element decreased the shear stress-induced luciferase activities, whereas mutation of the E box did not affect the responses. In an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, shear stress enhanced nuclear extract binding to double-stranded oligonucleotide probes containing C/EBP ␤ and AP-1-binding motifs, and the bands of the complexes were supershifted by the addition of antibody specific for each regulator. Although the binding activity of CREB toward its probe was unaffected by shear stress, the phosphorylation of CREB was enhanced by the stress. These data suggest that C/EBP ␤, AP-1, and CREB play crucial roles in the shear stress-induced cox-2 expression in osteoblasts.Mechanical loading applied to the skeleton is crucial to the development and maintenance of bone integrity and architecture. A decrease in the mechanical loading due to prolonged immobilization or weightlessness in space reduces the bone formation rate, resulting in bone loss (1-3). On the other hand, an increase in mechanical loading causes a gain in bone density (4, 5). Thus, bone tissue is sensitive to mechanical stimulation. Mechanical loading on bone generates extracellular matrix deformation and fluid flow, and the mechanical stimuli are translated to mechanical signals such as mechanical strain and fluid shear stress, respectively (6). Evidence obtained from in vitro studies indicates that osteocytes embedded in the lacunae/ canaliculi system and osteoblasts and bone cells lining the bone surface are mechanosensors that detect load-derived mechanical stimuli (7,8). By these bone-forming cells, the mechanical stimuli are translated into cellular signaling factors.Mechanical stress induces the expressions of several kinds of proteins in bone-forming cells such as insulin-like growth factor-I and -II, transforming growth factor-␤, osteocalcin, osteopontin, c-Fos, nitric-oxide synthase, and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-...

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Bone is continuously being formed and resorbed. This process is accomplished by the precise coordination of two cell types: osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Osteoclasts are large, multinucleated cells that are derived from the same hematopoietic precursors as macrophages. However, these bone-resorbing cells are difficult to study directly because of their relative inaccessibility. The purification of primary osteoclasts from rabbit bones by their adherent nature provides an opportunity for investigating the molecules in osteoclasts. We have examined the expression of receptor tyrosine kinase by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and found that Tyro 3 was frequently identified from primary osteoclasts in PCR cloning. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Tyro 3 was expressed on the multinucleated osteoclasts which were positive for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), but not on mononuclear TRAP-positive cells. The Tyro 3 ligand, Gas6, induced the phosphorylation of Tyro 3 receptors in osteoclasts in two to five min. Gas6 and protein S directly enhanced the bone resorbing activity of mature osteoclasts. This effect of Gas6 was inhibited by the addition of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, herbimycin A. However, Gas6 did not affect the differentiation of osteoclasts from bone marrow cells. Gas6 and protein S are dependent on vitamin K, a cofactor for the enzyme responsible for carboxylation of glutamic acid residues. The findings in this study are the first to indicate a new biological activity of Gas6 and protein S as a direct regulator of osteoclastic function; they give an insight into the role of these vitamin K-dependent ligands in bone resorption in vivo.