J Vet Sci.  2012 Sep;13(3):223-227. 10.4142/jvs.2012.13.3.223.

Evidence for estrogen receptor expression during medullary bone formation and resorption in estrogen-treated male Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

• Hiyama S
• Sugiyama T
• Kusuhara S
• Uchida T

• KMID: 1389760
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2012.13.3.223

Abstract

The temporal expression of estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha and ER-beta mRNA was examined in male Japanese quails. Femurs of quails receiving 17beta-estradiol underwent RTPCR and histochemical analysis 1 to 15 days after treatment. Untreated quails were used as controls (day 0). Between days 0 and 5, cells lining the bone endosteal surface differentiated into osteoblasts, which in turn formed medullary bone. Expression of ER-alpha was already observed on day 0 and increased slightly during bone formation whereas ER-beta was hardly detected throughout this process. After osteoclasts appeared on the medullary bone surface, this type of bone disappeared from the bone marrow cavity (days 7~15). ER-alpha expression simultaneously decreased slightly and ER-beta levels remained very low. These results suggest that estrogen activity mediated by ER-alpha not only affects medullary bone formation but also bone resorption.

Keyword

estrogen receptor alpha; estrogen receptor beta; medullary bone; osteoblasts; osteoclasts

MeSH Terms

Animals
Bone Resorption/genetics
Bone and Bones/chemistry/cytology/*metabolism
Cells, Cultured
Coturnix/*metabolism
Estradiol/*pharmacology
Estrogen Receptor alpha/genetics/*metabolism
Estrogen Receptor beta/genetics/*metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation
Male
Osteoblasts/chemistry/cytology/*metabolism
Osteogenesis/genetics
RNA, Messenger/metabolism
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Light micrographs of transverse femur sections from E2-treated male quails taken during medullary bone formation and resorption. In the untreated quails, bone-lining cells were observed on the endosteal surface (A: day 0). These cells differentiated into cuboidal shaped osteoblasts after E2 treatment (B: day 1). Subsequently, medullary bone was formed between these osteoblasts and the endosteal surface (C: day 2), and developed reticularly towards the center of the bone marrow cavity (D: day 3). Further medullary bone development was accompanied by the embedding of osteocytes in the bone matrices (E: day 5). Thereafter, appearance of multinucleated osteoclasts on the medullary bone surface induced the reduction of these bone matrices (F: day 7 and G: day 10). This bone subsequently disappeared from the bone marrow cavity and bone-lining cells reappeared on the endosteal surface (H: day 15). Arrowheads indicate bone-lining cells on the endosteal bone surface, arrows indicate cuboidal osteoblasts, small arrows indicate osteocytes, double small arrows indicate osteoclasts, and asterisks indicate medullary bone. CB: cortical bone, H&E stain. Scale bars = 50 µm.

• 

  Fig. 2 Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of ER-α and ER-β gene expression in femurs from E2-treated male quails. Asterisk indicates the days taken after E2 treatment, respectively.

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  Fig. 3 Quantification of ER-α and ER-β mRNA expression during the formation and resorption of medullary bone. Values represent the mean ± SD.

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