Mechanical stretching induces osteoprotegerin in differentiating C2C12 precursor cells through noncanonical Wnt pathways.

Mechanical loading is known to be important for maintaining the formation and resorption rates of bone. To study the mechanisms by which mechanical loading regulates osteogenesis, we investigated the role of the Wnt pathway in C2C12 cells committed to osteogenic differentiation in response to cyclic mechanical stretching. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) acts as a decoy receptor for RANKL to inhibit osteoclastogenesis and resorption of bone. Our results demonstrate that stretching leads to a sustained increase in OPG expression in C2C12 cells. The expression of osteogenic marker genes, such as osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase, was transiently decreased by stretching at 24 hours and returned to control levels at 48 hours. The addition of inhibitors of the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin pathways, such as the secreted FZD-related peptide sRFP2, as well as siRNA-mediated knockdown, did not inhibit the effect of stretching on OPG expression. In contrast, treatment with inhibitors of noncanonical Wnt signaling, including KN93, and siRNA for Nemo-like kinase (NLK) blocked most of the mechanical inductive effect on OPG. Furthermore, stretching-induced OPG production in the culture medium was able to inhibit the osteoclast formation of bone marrow macrophages. These results suggest that mechanical stretching may play an important role in bone remodeling through the upregulation of OPG and that the mechanical signaling leading to OPG induction involves the noncanonical Wnt pathway.