Hypertonicity Down-regulates the Vitamin -induced Osteoclastogenesis Via the Modulation of RANKL Expression in Osteoblast

Bone remodeling is a process controlled by the action of two major bone cells; the bone forming osteoblast and the bone resorbing osteoclast. In the process of osteoclastogenesis, stromal cells and osteoblast produce RANKL, OPG, and M-CSF, which in turn regulate the osteoclastogenesis. During the bone resorption by activated osteoclasts, extracellular $Ca^{2+}/{PO_4}^{2-}$ concentration and degraded organic materials goes up, providing the hypertonic microenvironment. In this study, we tested the effects of hypertonicity due to the degraded organic materials on osteoclastogenesis in co-culture system. It was examined the cellular response of osteoblastic cell in terms of osteoclastogenesis by applying the sucrose, and mannitol, as a substitute of degraded organic materials to co-culture system. Apart from the sucrose, mannitol, and NaCl was tested to be compared to the effect of organic osmotic particles. The addition of sucrose and mannitol (25, 50, 100, 150, or 200 mM) to co-culture medium inhibited the number of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) positive multinucleated cells induced by 10 nM $1{\alpha},25(OH)_2vitaminD_3$ ($1{\alpha},25(OH)_2D_3$). However, NaCl did exert harmful effect upon the cells in this co-culture system, which is attributed to DNA damage in high concentration of NaCl. To further investigate the mechanism by which hypertonicity inhibits $1{\alpha},25(OH)_2D_3$-induced osteoclastogenesis, the mRNA expressions of receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kB ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG) were monitored by RT-PCR. In the presence of sucrose (50 mM), RANKL mRNA expression was decreased in a dose-dependent manner, while the change in OPG and M-CSF mRNA were not occurred in significantly. The RANKL mRNA expression was inhibited for 48 hours in the presence of sucrose (50 mM), but such a decrement recovered after 72 hours. However, there were no considerable changes in the expression of OPG and M-CSF mRNA. Conclusively, these findings strongly suggest that hypertonic stress down-regulates $1{\alpha},25(OH)_2D_3$-induced osteoclastogenesis via RANKL signal pathway in osteoblastic cell, and may playa pivotal role as a regulator that modulates osteoclastogenesis.