Volume 52 (11): 1475-1482, 2004 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Eccentric Localization of Osteocytes Expressing Enzymatic Activities, Protein, and mRNA Signals for Type 5 Tartrate-resistant Acid Phosphatase (TRAP)
Biostructural Science, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan (YN,YT), and Department of Oral Pathology, Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan (ST) Correspondence to: Prof. Yoshiro Takano, Biostructural Science, Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan. E-mail: takanoy.bss{at}tmd.ac.jp
Enzymatic activity of type 5 tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) has been regarded as one of the reliable markers for osteoclasts and their precursors. The presence of TRAP activity in osteocytes near the bone resorbing surface has also been pointed out in some reports. However, the significance of TRAP reactions in osteocytes remains controversial and, in fact, there is no agreement as to whether the histochemical enzyme reactions in osteocytes represent the TRAP enzyme generated by the respective osteocytes or is a mere diffusion artifact of the reaction products derived from the nearby osteoclasts. Current histochemical, immunohistochemical, and in situ hybridization studies of rat and canine bones confirmed TRAP enzyme activity, TRAP immunoreactivity, and the expression of Trap mRNA signals in osteocytes located close to the bone-resorbing surface. TRAP/Trap- positive osteocytes thus identified were confined to the areas no further than 200 µm from the bone-resorbing surface and showed apparent upregulation of TRAP/Trap expression toward the active osteoclasts. Spatial and temporal patterns of TRAP/Trap expression in the osteocytes should serve as a valuable parameter for further analyses of biological interactions between the osteocytes and the osteoclasts associated with bone remodeling. (J Histochem Cytochem 52:14751482, 2004)
Key Words: tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) osteocyte osteoclast immunohistochemistry in situ hybridization bone
BONE REMODELING is a series of complex processes of bone matrix formation, mineralization, and its resorption performed by the three types of bone cells; osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and osteocytes (Buckwalter and Cooper 1987
In bone tissues, the presence of two types of acid phosphatases (ACPase, EC 3.1.3.2); tartrate-sensitive ACPase, and tartrate-resistant ACPase was confirmed by biochemical analysis (Anderson and Toverud 1977 Here we sought to clarify the actual localization of TRAP/Trap in the osteocytes by enzyme histochemistry, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and in situ hybridization (ISH).
Tissue Preparation Protocols for animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Tokyo Medical and Dental University. All experiments were carried out according to the Guidelines for Animal Experimentation at Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
Semithin Sectioning of Fresh-frozen Freeze-substituted Specimens
Paraffin- or Cryosectioning of Chemically Fixed Specimens A canine (beagle, 1.5 years old) was anesthetized with sodium thiopental (25 mg/kg bw) and perfused via the abdominal aorta with 4% PFA in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer (pH 7.4). Femora and tibiae were excised and further immersed in the fixative for 1 day at 4C. The diaphyses of excised bones of rats and canine were processed for either cryosectioning, paraffin embedding, or Technovit embedding preceded by 10% EDTA decalcification at 4C for 10 days. The specimens for cryosectioning were immersed overnight in a 30% sucrose/PBS solution for cryoprotection, frozen in cold hexane (90C), and cut into 6-µm-thick frozen sections. Others were dehydrated through a graded series of ethanol and embedded routinely in paraffin or Technovit 7100.
Enzyme Histochemistry of TRAP
Immunohistochemistry
After H2O2 treatment, some paraffin sections of rat and canine bones were subjected to a digestion treatment with 2.5 mM trypsin in 5 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.3) supplemented with 2.25 mM CaCl2 for 20 min at 37C. Preceded by a blocking treatment with 10% swine serum, the sections treated with trypsin were incubated with rabbit anti-rat dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) antibody (1:100400) (Toyosawa et al. 2001
In Situ Hybridization
Measurement of the Extent of TRAP/Trap-positive Osteocytes
Enzymatic Reactions and Protein Localization of TRAP The Azo-dye method revealed intense granular histochemical reactions of enzymatic activity of TRAP in the cytoplasm of osteoclasts, and moderate reaction in the cytoplasm of some osteocytes located close to the bone resorption surface in both rat (Figures 1a and 1b) and canine (Figures 1c and 1d) bones. Extracellular TRAP reactions were also detected along the bone resorbing surface as well as in the ruffled border regions of the osteoclasts. The TRAP-positive osteocytes contained some granular reactions in the weakly positive homogeneous cytoplasm. The intensity of histochemical reactions of TRAP in osteocytes decreased drastically in the slightly remote areas and became undetectable in those located no farther than 200 µm away from the bone surface undergoing resorption. The staining patterns of TRAP reactions in the osteocytes were identical in the sections of all types of specimens processed by different methods and also in both long bones and the alveolar bone.
When the longitudinal sections of the cortical bone of canine femurs were examined, the areas of TRAP-positive osteocytes were clearly visible near the intensely TRAP-positive cutting cone of the osteon, as expected (Figure 1e). Interestingly, however, there were also areas of TRAP-positive osteocytes in which not a single osteoclast was visible nearby. A careful examination of the adjacent sections confirmed the existence of a cutting cone underneath the seemingly osteoclast-free areas of TRAP-positive osteocytes (data not shown).
IHC Localization of TRAP
Expression of Trap mRNA Signals Intense Trap mRNA signals appeared in the cytoplasm of osteoclasts of rat bones (Figure 3) . As in the case of enzyme histochemical and IHC observations of TRAP, modest but significant signals for Trap mRNA were observed in the cytoplasm of the osteocytes located close to the osteoclasts (Figure 3, arrows). No signal was detected by the sense probe.
DMP1 Immunoreactivity In contrast to the eccentric localization of TRAP/Trap-positive osteocytes, the immunoreactions for DMP1 were localized along the inner surface of the osteocytic lacunae and bone canaliculi throughout the cortical and trabecular bones of both rat and canine bones (Figure 4a) . Some osteocytes close to the osteoclasts showed histochemical TRAP reactions in the DMP1 immunopositive lacunae in doubly stained sections (Figure 4b, arrows).
The Extent of TRAP/Trap-positive Osteocytes The extent of the areas of TRAP/Trap-positive osteocytes was measured in rat bones (humerus and alveolar bones) as the distance from the bone resorbing surface. The areas of TRAP/Trap-positive osteocytes were significantly narrower than that of the osteocytes expressing histochemical TRAP reactions. There was no statistically significant difference between the areas of the immunopositive osteocytes and the mRNA-expressing osteocytes (Table 1).
The validity of the TRAP reactions in osteocytes detected by enzyme histochemistry has been controversial. The following interpretations may be applicable concerning the significance of the enzymatic reactions of TRAP in osteocytes. (a) The enzyme reactions in osteocytes are the consequence of artifactual diffusion of histochemical reaction products of TRAP from the actual reaction site (bone resorbing surface), which occurred during histochemical processing. (b) The enzyme reactions in osteocytes are not histochemical diffusion artifact but true reactions representing the TRAP proteins in the respective osteocytes, which have diffused from the bone resorbing surface through the bone canaliculi under physiological conditions in vivo. (c) The enzyme reactions in osteocytes represent the TRAP enzyme proteins generated by the respective osteocytes. Thus far, none of these hypotheses has been tested. In our present observations of canine bone sections, we noted areas of TRAP-positive osteocytes that had no connection with the osteoclasts (cutting cone) (Figure 1e). As already mentioned, the area of TRAP-positive osteocytes and the cutting cone are spatially closely located in vivo. In histological sections, however, these two areas are often divided into separate sections and hence are totally isolated from each other when the sections are subjected to enzyme histochemical staining. It is therefore safe to state that the TRAP enzyme reactions in the osteocytes are not a diffusion artifact of the reaction products derived from the nearby osteoclasts, either in the cutting cones or in other bone resorbing surfaces. The observation of TRAP immunoreactions in osteocytes provides firm evidence for the presence of TRAP enzyme proteins in these cells and further supports the intrinsic enzyme activity of osteocytes. However, the presence of TRAP proteins in osteocytes does not conclusively indicate that the enzyme is the product of the respective cells. The TRAP proteins being released from the functioning osteoclasts into the resorption lacunae may diffuse through bone canaliculi and further into osteocytic lacunae, and may be taken up by the osteocytes. Such internalized TRAP proteins may also show granular immunoreactivity as well as histochemical enzymatic reactions in the cytoplasm of osteocytes, as shown in Figures 1b, 1d, and 2b. In some cases, weak histochemical TRAP reactions could be seen in some bone canaliculi near the resorption surface (data not shown). In this context, the expression of Trap mRNA signals in osteocytes, as shown by ISH, could finally confirm the origin of TRAP enzyme proteins in osteocytes. The difference in the extent of the areas of histochemically TRAP-reactive osteocytes and TRAP/Trap-positive osteocytes (Table 1) may simply be attributed to the difference in the sensitivity of the individual methods used for detection: enzyme histochemistry, ISH, and IHC. Taking our findings together, we suggest that the osteocytes in the local environment near the bone resorption surface synthesize TRAP proteins and show histochemical TRAP reactions in the cytoplasmic granular structures. The possible diffusion of some TRAP proteins derived from osteoclasts through bone canaliculi toward the TRAP-positive osteocytes cannot be excluded.
A number of authors have studied the function of TRAP in biological systems (Drexler and Gignac 1994
DMP1, a member of the family of non-collagenous bone matrix proteins, has been reported to be located along the inner surface of osteocytic lacunae and bone canaliculi and its mRNA signal to be expressed by osteocytes (Toyosawa et al. 2001
Supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (15791036; 14370577) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Received for publication May 9, 2004; accepted June 25, 2004
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