Human osteoclasts, not osteoblasts, deposit osteopontin onto resorption surfaces: an in vitro and ex vivo study of remodeling bone.

Osteopontin is a phosphorylated glycoprotein believed to be secreted by osteoblasts and deposited into the bone matrix to facilitate osteoclasts adhesion or to initiate osteoid mineralization. Previously we have presented contradictory evidence that osteoclasts express osteopontin mRNA in human remodeling bone. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether osteoclasts synthesize and deposit osteopontin in resorption lucunae. We characterized expression of osteopontin mRNA and protein expression in both intramembranous and endochondral ossification, as well as remodeling bone, in the human osteophyte. Osteopontin mRNA was expressed in osteoclast with tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) positivity within resorption lacunae. The osteoclasts and immediate resorption surfaces also expressed osteopontin. However, osteopontin mRNA and protein were weak (transient) or undetectable in osteoblasts at adjacent bone formation sites; no osteopontin expression was observed in the osteoid, although occasional reactivity was observed in osteocytes and the mineral-osteoid interface. In contrast, osteopontin was highly expressed in the osteoblasts and matrix of woven bone during intramembranous and endochondral ossification. The matrix expression correlated with mineralization; however, in some instances osteopontin deposition was observed prior to mineralization. Similarly, osteopontin expression was evident in cartilage matrix, solely at foci of mineralization. Chondroclasts expressed osteopontin mRNA and protein: the surfaces of resorbed calcified cartilage also expressed osteopontin. Abnormal, unmineralized matrices apparently lacked deposited osteopontin, but were nevertheless resorbed by osteoclasts; the osteoclasts and resorbed surfaces expressed no osteopontin protein. That osteoclasts are responsible for the deposition of osteopontin was confirmed in vitro, whereby resorption pits in whale dentine and bovine bone slices, produced by isolated human osteoclasts, contained deposited osteopontin. Osteopontin may facilitate the adhesion (or detachment) of the osteoclast to the bone surface. Alternatively, the possibility that osteopontin may act as a postresorptive signal to recruit osteoblasts, or to polarize and direct the mineralization of the formed osteoid, is discussed.