Several studies have suggested that high blood pressure is associated with abnormalities in calcium metabolism, leading to increased calcium loss, secondary activation of the parathyroid gland, and increased removal of calcium from bone. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Consistently, studies in hypertensive rats have shown that hypercalciuria and ensuing hyperparathyroidism lead to reduced growth and detectable decrease in total bonemineral content later in life. 8,9) Recently, it was also shown that higher blood pressure in elderly white women is statistically associated with increased bone loss at the femoral neck, which may contribute to bone fracture. 10) Drugs used as primary choice for the treatment of hypertension include calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor type1 (AT1) antagonists, diuretics, b-blockers, and a-blockers. 11) The first three drugs are especially widely used in Japan. The mechanism by which each drug lowers blood pressure differs. Calcium channel blockers primarily inhibit calcium influx through the L-type voltage-dependent calcium channel at the level of vascular smooth muscle, thereby disrupting the excitation contraction process. 12,13) Both ACE inhibitors and AT1 antagonists interfere with the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). The former inactivates the conversion of angiotensin I into angiotensin II (Ang II), which is a vasoconstrictive peptide, while the latter blocks the binding of Ang II to its receptor. 14,15) Osteoblasts are derived from mesenchymal stem cells and play a pivotal role in bone formation. During differentiation, they first express type I collagen, then alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and other bone matrix proteins and finally form mineralized bone. Osteoblasts express voltage-dependent calcium channels. 16) Various bone regulatory factors such as vitamin D 3 , [17][18][19] parathyroid hormone, 17,20,21) and prostaglandin E 2 17,22) cause a rise in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca 2ϩ ] i ), at least part of which is decreased by dihydropyridine-type calcium channel blockers. These factors also promote or inhibit osteoblast differentiation. [23][24][25][26] Thus, it is suggested that signaling through the L-type calcium channel may be important for osteoblast functions. However, the fact that these factors give rise to multiple signals independent of calcium influx (i.e., transcription of specific genes, 27) cAMP production, 20,28) release of calcium ion from intracellular store 17) ) obscures the role of L-type calcium channel. Recently, Kosaka and Uchii found that a calcium channel blocker benidipine, but not amlodipine or nifedipine, increased ALP activity of osteoblastic cells isolated from neonatal mouse calvaria. 29) We further investigated the effects of benidipine on osteoblastic functions using osteoblastic cell line MC3T3-E1, 30) which is widely used in studies on various aspects of osteoblast differentiation since it expresses osteoblast markers and forms a mineralized extracellular matrix. 31,32) There we ...