AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 267, Issue 6 E868-E876, Copyright © 1994 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Role of interleukin-6 and prostaglandins in the effect of monocyte-conditioned medium on osteoclast formation

M. Kanatani, T. Sugimoto, M. Fukase and K. Chihara
Department of Medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.

There is evidence suggesting some role of mononuclear cells at the resorptive site in bone remodeling. The possibility was therefore postulated that these cells might provide some signal for osteoclast formation. We examined the effects of human monocyte-conditioned medium (CM) on the formation of osteoclast-like cells from hemopoietic blast cells in the absence of stromal cells and unfractionated bone cells in the presence of stromal cells. In both culture systems, the osteoclast-like cell formation induced by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] or human parathyroid hormone (PTH)-(1-34) was significantly inhibited by adding 20% CM. The effects of monocyte-derived local regulators of bone turnover on osteoclast-like cell formation induced by 1,25(OH)2D3 or PTH were determined. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibited osteoclast-like cell formation in both culture systems, whereas prostaglandin (PG) E2 significantly inhibited the formation only in the hemopoietic blast cell culture. The inhibitory effect of CM on osteoclast-like cell formation from hemopoietic blast cells was not observed when CM was prepared from monocytes pretreated with indomethacin. The inhibitory effect of CM and IL-6 on osteoclast-like cell formation in both culture systems was blocked by adding neutralizing IL-6 antibody. The present study demonstrated that CM inhibited osteoclast-like cell formation induced by 1,25(OH)2D3 and PTH presumably through the action of local regulators of bone turnover, such as IL-6 and PG. Our findings thus provide additional evidence that mononuclear cells play an important role at the resorptive site in bone remodeling.