Advanced Glycation End Products Enhance Osteoclast-Induced Bone Resorption in Cultured Mouse Unfractionated Bone Cells and in Rats Implanted Subcutaneously with Devitalized Bone Particles

Advanced glycation end products (AGE) are formed in long-lived matrix proteins by a nonenzymatic reaction with sugar. The presence of AGE in β₂-microglobulin-amyloid fibrils of dialysis-related amyloidosis, one of the characteristic features of which is an accelerated bone resorption around amyloid deposits, was recently demonstrated. This suggested a potential link of AGE in bone resorption and initiated this investigation of whether AGE enhance bone resorption. When mouse unfractionated bone cells containing osteoclasts were cultured on dentin slices, both AGE-modified β₂-microglobulin and BSA increased the number of resorption pits formed by osteoclasts, whereas their normal counterparts or those modified with the early glycation products did not. AGE proteins, however, did not increase the number of newly formed osteoclasts, even in the coculture of mouse bone marrow cells with osteoblastic cells isolated from mouse calvaria. Enhanced bone resorption was also observed when unfractionated bone cells were cultured on AGE-modified dentin slices. AGE-enhanced bone resorption was effectively inhibited by calcitonin and ipriflavone, both of which are inhibitors of bone resorption. AGE-enhanced bone resorption was further supported by in vivo evidence that rat bone particles - upon incubation with glucose for 60 days (AGE-bone particles) - when implanted subcutaneously in rats, were resorbed to a much greater extent than control bone particles upon parallel incubation without glucose. These findings suggest that AGE enhance osteoclast-induced bone resorption. Although the mechanism remains unknown, AGE are unlikely to promote differentiation of osteoclast progenitors into osteoclasts, suggesting that AGE activate osteoclasts or alter microenvironments favorable for bone resorption by osteoclasts. The modification of bone matrices with AGE might play a role in the remodeling of senescent bone matrix tissues, further implicating a pathological significance of AGE in dialysis-related amyloidosis or osteoporosis associated with diabetes and aging.