Effects of estrogen on collagen synthesis by cultured human osteoblasts depend on the rate of cellular differentiation

✍ Scribed by Deborah C. Ireland; Sharyn Bord; Siân R. Beavan; Juliet E. Compston

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 140 KB
• Volume: 86
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/jcb.10228

✦ Synopsis

Estrogen is known to act on osteoblasts according to their stage of differentiation and estrogen receptor (ER) isoform expression. The aim of this study was to determine when type I collagen (COL1) synthesis by cultured low-passage, human bone-derived osteoblasts (hOBs) is upregulated in response to estrogen. Cell lines from female donors aged 1 and 66 years were cultured for 11 days on collagen in growth medium supplemented with human serum, hydrocortisone, and beta-glycerophosphate. Young-donor hOBs grew more quickly than old-donor hOBs and did not mineralize. Old-donor hOBs formed mineralized nodules 5 days after reaching confluence. Changes in mRNA levels with time for ERs, type I collagen, and alkaline phosphatase reflected the faster differentiation of the old-donor cells. The ERbeta/ERalpha ratio fell threefold in young-donor hOBs but rose 300-fold in old-donor hOBs. Increased ERbeta/ERalpha ratios prevented ligand-dependent downregulation of ERalpha transcription, resulting in reduced proliferation in old-donor hOBs. Upregulation of COL1 mRNA expression in response to estrogen was confined to intermediate stages of differentiation, resulting in significant increases in COL1 mRNA by estradiol only in young-donor cells. Since the young and old-donor hOBs were cultured under identical conditions, our results indicate that the response of hOBs to estrogen is largely dependent on intracellular mechanisms that control the timing of cellular differentiation.