Calcitonin receptors as markers for osteoclastic differentiation: correlation between generation of bone-resorptive cells and cells that express calcitonin receptors in mouse bone marrow cultures.

The osteoclast is the cell that resorbs bone. It is known to derive from hemopoietic precursors, but analysis of lineage and regulation of differentiation has been hampered by lack of a specific marker that enables identification of cells of osteoclastic phenotype. Previously used markers, such as multinuclearity, that are specific for osteoclasts in bone become less specific in culture. Uniquely among bone and bone marrow cells, osteoclasts possess abundant calcitonin (CT) receptors. We therefore tested the correlation between the generation of bone-resorptive function and the formation of CT receptor-positive cells from hemopoietic tissue in vitro. Without 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3], a hormone that induces osteoclastic differentiation in vitro, bone marrow cultures showed very little bone resorption, and only small numbers of CT receptor-positive cells developed. When 1,25-(OH)2D3 was added to the cultures, CT receptor-positive cells developed within 1 day and reached a peak after 7 days. Bone resorption commenced within 2 days of hormone addition. There was a strong parallelism between the cumulative number of CT receptor-positive cells and the extent of bone resorption. The capacity of cultures to generate bone-resorptive activity and CT receptor-positive cells declined progressively when 1,25-(OH)2D3 was added to hemopoietic tissue after a 7- to 21-day hormone-free incubation period. The number of CT receptor-positive cells in these cultures correlated strongly (r = 0.96) with bone resorption. The behavior of these cultures suggests that 1,25-(OH)2D3 acts to induce terminal differentiation of osteoclast precursors present in the cultures, and that precursor cell numbers decreased with increasing time in vitro. All of the CT receptor-positive cells in control cultures and all of those seen shortly after 1,25-(OH)2D3 addition were mononuclear, despite considerable bone resorption; the majority of CT receptor-positive cells remained mononuclear throughout the incubation period. This suggests that mononuclear cells with characteristics of osteoclasts exist that are able to excavate bone. CT receptor-positive cells slightly preceded the development of bone-resorptive function, implying that CT receptors develop before the acquisition of bone-resorptive capacity by osteoclasts. Peritoneal macrophages, blood mononuclear cells, and cells of the J774 macrophage cell line failed to either resorb bone or express CT receptors, even after incubation with 1,25-(OH)2D3 for 14 days. These results show a strong and specific correlation between the generation of bone-resorptive cells and CT receptor-positive cells, and suggest that CT receptor express