Comparative study on two different culturing methods of osteoclasts of rats

Objective To study the morphological and functional difference between osteoclast(OC) and osteoclast-like cells(OLC) cultured by different means and to provide the basis for further investigation on the regulation of bone resorption by OC. Methods OCs were isolated from the long bones of neonatal Wistar rats, and OLC were induced from the marrow mononuclear cells of 4-week-old of Wistar rats by 10 -8 mol/L 1,25(OH)_2VitaminD_3 in vitro. The morphology and resorption function were observed for OC and OLC. Results The tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) positive polykaryocytes were obtained by both means, and the amount of OLC was more than that of OC (P0.05). The appearance of OLC was similar to that of OC, but the resorption function of OLC was not as stronger as OC. Conclusions OC derived directly from long bones is less in number, but is active in bone resorption, thus can be appropriate for the study of bone resorption, migration and adhesion, apoptosis and monocellular molecular biology. The bone resorption ability of OLC obtained by inducing means is more in number, but less active and is better for the study of OC differentiation and development.