Measurement of intact rat osteocalcin in osteoblast (ROS17/2.8) cells and in ovariectomized rats with a sandwich enzyme immunoassay.

We developed a sandwich enzyme immunoassay system for intact rat osteocalcin to improve the region specificity for the detection of this molecule. We synthesized two peptides of N-terminal 20 residues and C-terminal 10 residues of rat osteocalcin. After conjugating these peptides with carrier protein, we obtained anti-N- and anti-C-terminal rat osteocalcin antibodies in rabbits raised against these two peptides, respectively. By using these antibodies, we measured intact rat osteocalcin levels in a two-site immunoassay manner. These antibodies did not show the cross-reactivity to human osteocalcin. The immunoreactive peak corresponding to the intact molecules was detected by our intact osteocalcin method after high-performance liquid chromatographic fractionation of osteocalcin fragments in plasma from uremic rats. Furthermore, the intact rat osteocalcin was stable over 8 hours at 25 degrees C. Intact rat osteocalcin levels extracellularly secreted from ROS 17/2.8 cells were measured by this method, showing time- and dose-dependent significant increases when administered 1,25(OH)2D3. The inhibition for the secretion of intact osteocalcin by actinomycin D was also detected quantitatively with this method. In ovariectomized rats, intact osteocalcin levels in plasma were acutely elevated after ovariectomy, and its elevation was significantly depressed by 17beta-estradiol administration. These data suggest that this sandwich method is able to measure the intact form of osteocalcin secreted by osteoblasts. As the antibodies identify the specific regions of osteocalcin molecule, this method would be useful for sensitive estimation of bone turnover for various experimental conditions in rats.