Parathyroid hormone modulates transforming growth factor beta activity and binding in osteoblast-enriched cell cultures from fetal rat parietal bone.

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) is produced by bone cells, is abundant in bone matrix, and regulates bone cell biochemical processes. In osteoblast-enriched fetal rat parietal bone cell cultures, low TGF-beta doses increase DNA synthesis, whereas higher levels are less mitogenic, stimulate collagen production, and decrease alkaline phosphatase activity. Parathyroid hormone by itself has minimal effects on these processes, but it opposes the effects of TGF-beta and alters TGF-beta binding to its receptors in osteoblast-enriched cultures. Some functions ascribed to parathyroid hormone in bone may therefore result from alterations in TGF-beta activity, suggesting that the local effects of TGF-beta in bone are under systemic hormonal control.