Inhibiting and stimulating effects of TGF-beta 1 on osteoclastic bone resorption in fetal mouse bone organ cultures.

The effects of TGF-beta 1 on osteoclastic resorption of fetal mouse calvaria and long bones at various stages of development was studied in organ culture. In resorbing calvariae and long bones with an established marrow cavity TGF-beta 1 (4-10 ng/ml) had a stimulating effect on 45Ca release that was partially inhibited by indomethacin. In primitive long bones, however, which were explanted before osteoclast invasion and excavation of a marrow cavity had started, TGF-beta 1 (1-4 ng/ml) inhibited 45Ca release by an indomethacin-insensitive mechanism. Histomorphometry of long bones after staining for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) revealed that TGF-beta 1 treatment inhibited the migration of TRAP-positive cells from periosteum to developing marrow cavity and inhibited cell fusion. However, the formation of (mononuclear) TRAP-positive cells in the periosteum-perichondrium was strongly enhanced. These data suggest that TGF-beta 1 modulates various steps in the cascade of osteoclast development, recruitment, and activation in different ways, involving both prostaglandin-mediated and prostaglandin-independent pathways. Therefore the net effect of exogenous TGF-beta 1 on osteoclastic resorption in bone organ cultures depends on the relative prevalence of osteoclast progenitors, precursors, and mature osteoclasts in the tissue under study.