Osteoclast progenitors are seeded via the blood stream in the mesenchyme surrounding embryonic long bone models long before the appearance of multinucleated osteoclasts. The proliferation and differentiation of these progenitors in embryonic mouse metatarsal bones was studied with acid phosphatase (AcP) histochemistry and 3H-thymidine autoradiography. In vivo, tartrate-resistant, acid phosphatase-positive, mononuclear cells appear in the periosteum (AcPP-P cells) at the age of 17 days (after conception). On day 18, AcP-positive, multinucleated osteoclasts invade the bone rudiment and start resorbing the calcified cartilage matrix, resulting in the formation of the marrow cavity. The kinetics of osteoclast formation in vitro was studied in metatarsal bones of embryonic mice of different ages cultured in the continuous presence of 3H-thymidine. In young bones (15 days), mainly proliferating, 3H-thymidine-incorporating progenitors gave rise to AcPP-P cell and osteoclast formation. In older bones (16 and 17 days) osteoclasts were progressively more derived from postmitotic, unlabeled precursors. Irradiation of the metatarsal bones with a radiation dose of 5.0 Gy prior to culture resulted in a selective elimination of the proliferating progenitors, whereas the contribution of postmitotic precursors in AcPP-P cell and osteoclast formation remained unchanged. The results demonstrate that in the periosteum of embryonic metatarsal bones a shift occurs from a population composed of proliferating osteoclast progenitors (15 days) to a population composed of postmitotic precursors (17 days) before multinucleated osteoclasts are formed (18 days). Obviously, postmitotic AcP-negative precursors, already present in 16-day-old bones, differentiate into precursors characterized by tartrate-resistant AcP activity, the preosteoclasts (17 days), which in their turn fuse into osteoclasts.

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Skeletal tissues contain, apart from cells of the osteogenic and chondrogenic lineage, cells of hemopoietic origin, e.g., macrophages, osteoclasts, and their precursors. In the present study we examined the sensitivity for extracellular ATP4- of the above-mentioned cell types in freshly isolated, bone-derived cell populations and in explanted fetal metatarsal bones. Cells of hemopoietic origin reacted to the presence of ATP4- with an increased permeability for impermeant cytotoxic molecules, e.g., ethidium bromide (EB), thiocyanate (KSCN), and an increased non-ion selective membrane conductance. As a consequence, these cells could be killed by a short treatment with adenosine-5' triphosphate (ATP)+KSCN. On the other hand, cells of nonhemopoietic origin (e.g., osteoblasts, chondrocytes) were found to be insensitive to ATP4- in this respect. These cells survived the treatment without apparent damage to their alkaline phosphatase activities, osteogenic potentials, and osteoclast induction capacities. The elimination of the endogenous cells of hemopoietic origin from bone tissue or cell populations derived therefrom offers the possibility to study the properties and functions of osteogenic or chondrogenic cells without interference by the presence of cells of hemopoietic origin. It also allows the study of interactions between osteogenic cells and selected cell populations of hemopoietic origin in coculture experiments.

Two cell populations were isolated from calvaria of chick embryos : PF cells were liberated by collagenase treatment from the periosteum, OB cells from the periosteum-free calvarium . Both populations were cultured in plastic culture dishes. After 6 d of culture, monolayers of each cell type either were scraped off the culture dishes, transplanted on the chorio-allantoic membrane of 7-d-old quail eggs, and cultured there for 6 d, or were used for biochemical experiments .OB transplants proved capable of producing calcified bone matrix, whereas PF transplants formed only fibrous tissue. Biochemically, OB cells showed high CAMP production in the presence of parathyroid hormone (PTH), whereas CAMP production was not stimulated in PF cultures . Lactate production was stimulated by PTH in both populations although somewhat differently . Citrate decarboxylation was high in OB cells and was inhibited by PTH but was low in PF cells, where it was stimulated by the same hormone . The differences in hormonal response between the two cell types made it possible to conclude that PF cultures are relatively free of OB cells. The PF contamination in OB cultures was more difficult to assess .The experiments described in this report show that the OB population contains osteoblasts or osteoblastlike cells which are, under favorable circumstances, capable of bone formation .

Cultures of isolated osteocytes may offer an appropriate system to study osteocyte function, since isolated osteocytes in culture behave very much like osteocytes in vivo. In this paper we studied the capacity of osteocytes to change their surrounding extracellular matrix by production of matrix proteins. With an immunocytochemical method we determined the presence of collagen type I, fibronectin, osteocalcin, osteopontin and osteonectin in cultures of isolated chicken osteocytes, osteoblasts and periosteal fibroblasts. In osteoblast and periosteal fibroblast cultures, large extracellular networks of collagen type I and fibronectin were formed, but in osteocyte populations, extracellular threads of collagen or fibronectin were only rarely found. The percentage of cells positive for osteocalcin, osteonectin and osteopontin in the Golgi apparatus, on the other hand, was highest in the osteocyte population. These results show that osteocytes have the ability to alter the composition of their surrounding extracellular matrix by producing matrix proteins. We suggest this property is of importance for the regulation of the calcification of the bone matrix immediately surrounding the cells. More importantly, as osteocytes depend for their role as mechanosensor cells on their interaction with matrix proteins, the adaptation of the surrounding matrix offers a way to regulate their response to mechanical loading.