Cgmp produced in response to anp and cnp regulates the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblastic cells. Hagiwara, Hiromi, Atsuto Inoue, Akira Yamaguchi, Satoshi Yokose, Mayumi Furuya, Shoji Tanaka, and Shigehisa Hirose. Research Center for Experimental Biology and Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta -cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226; Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Showa University, Hatanodai, Tokyo 142; Suntory Institute for Biomedical Research, Shimamoto, Mishima, Osaka 618, Japan
APStracts 2:0435C, 1995.
The effects of natriuretic peptides on the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast-like cells from rat calvariae were examined. Natriuretic peptides are physiological agonists that activate receptor guanylate cyclases, namely, natriuretic peptide receptor-A (NPR-A) and -B (NPR-B). Exposure of cells to atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) resulted in large increases in the rate of intracellular production of cGMP. Moreover, CNP-like immunoreactivity was detected in the conditioned medium from osteoblast-like cells, while ANP was undetectable. In cells exposed to natriuretic peptides, a dose -dependent reduction in the rate of DNA synthesis was observed. Natriuretic peptides also stimulated the activity of ALPase and the expression of mRNA for ALPase and osteocalcin and the mineralization of nodules by the cultured cells. These results could be reproduced by treating cells with 8-bromo-cGMP (8-Br-cGMP). Endothelin-1 (ET-1), whose physiological functions are the opposite of those of natriuretic peptides, decreased the ALPase activity and the mineralization of nodules. In the present study, natriuretic peptides were demonstrated to promote bone formation via the action of cGMP in a signal-transduction pathway mediated by specific receptors in osteoblast-like cells.

Received 7 August 1995; accepted in final form 27 November 1995.
APS Manuscript Number C483-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 12 December 95