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Departments of Pathology (BB 2), Metabolic Disease (SM), and Inflammation (YC, Y-LH, UF), Amgen, Inc. Thousand Oaks, CA
| Abstract |
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0.05) by 3955%, with the greatest decrease in the tarsal. Osteoclasts in arthritic rats were significantly increased (P
0.05) relative to normal in calcaneus (sevenfold), tarsal (194-fold), and tibia (threefold). The most useful quantitative indices were bone area and total osteoclasts, both defined as a percentage of total area measured. Semiquantitative scores for bone erosion and osteoclasts paralleled the quantitative indices. These data show that the navicular tarsal is the most sensitive site at which to assess arthritis in rats with this variant of adjuvant-induced arthritis.
Key words: Adjuvant-induced arthritis; cell count; osteoclast; rats.
Bone growth, maintenance, and repair during normal remodeling and skeletal disease are mediated by the reciprocal activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Osteoblasts, which originate from mesenchymal stem cells in bone marrow, produce bone matrix and express receptors for most bone-regulating moleculesregardless of whether the predominant action is to drive bone formation or bone resorption.13 Osteoclasts are derived from phagocytic precursors of the monocyte/macrophage lineage and degrade bone matrix. Normal remodeling is tightly controlled by way of cell-to-cell communication between osteoclasts and osteoblasts, with osteoblasts both supporting and regulating osteoclast activity.7 However, in pathologic states "activated" cells (e.g., infiltrating leukocytes and synovial fibroblasts) contribute other molecules that shift the equilibrium between osteoblastic and osteoclastic activities.8,10,14 These molecules act by way of a common pathway to enhance osteoclast differentiation, activity, and survival (reviewed in Bolon et al.2), thus contributing significantly to bone loss in such human conditions as osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Animal models of many skeletal diseases also are characterized by increased numbers of osteoclasts. Therefore, assessment of osteoclast populations in animal bones is an important step in understanding the pathogenesis of skeletal diseases and in developing new bone-sparing therapies. For some purposes, an exact count of osteoclasts is made using labor- and time-intensive histomorphometric methods.4,9,11 In other instances, intralesional osteoclasts may be assessed using simple, rapid, semiquantitative scoring systems.1,3 The objective of this retrospective study was to define the optimal site for rapid quantification of intralesional osteoclasts in the hind paws of arthritic rats. For this purpose, we used rats in which adjuvant-induced arthritis (AdA) was initiated with an inoculation of mycobacteria. This model yields a severe immune-mediated, jointeroding disease that resembles rheumatoid arthritis.
| Materials and Methods |
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This study was performed with archival tissues from two control groups from an AdA study with rats. We selected this model because animals develop extensive inflammation and localized bone erosions in conjunction with profound osteoclast production within 2 weeks of adjuvant inoculation. Rats from one cohort were normal (no arthritis), whereas rats from the second had arthritis but were not treated. The extent and severity of lesions were assessed independently in the same sections using both semiquantitative and quantitative methods.
Arthritis model
Young adult, male Lewis rats (Charles River, Wilmington, MA) weighing 180200 g had been acclimated for 1 week and then randomly assigned to either the normal control or the untreated arthritic control group (n = 6 per group). Animals had been given tap water and fed pelleted rodent chow (#8640; Harlan Teklad, Madison, WI) ad libitum. AdA had been induced on study day 0, as described,5 by a single intradermal injection at the tail base of heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra (0.5 mg; Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI) suspended in 0.05 ml paraffin oil (Crescent Chemical Co., Hauppauge, NY). The clinical onset of arthritis had occurred on study day 9 as indicated by hind paw swelling and ambulatory difficulties. Animals had been maintained for 7 days and then necropsied on study day 16.
Tissue acquisition and processing
At necropsy, all animals had been anesthetized with carbon dioxide, and hind paws had been removed and fixed for 2 days by immersion in zinc formalin (Z-fix; Anatech Ltd., Battle Creek, MI). Paws subsequently were decalcified in eight serial changes of a 1 : 1 mixture of 8 N formic acid and 1 N sodium formate, divided longitudinally along the median axis, and processed into paraffin.
A 4-µm-thick section was stained to demonstrate osteoclasts using an indirect immunoperoxidase method and a proprietary rabbit anti-human monoclonal antibody (Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA) directed against the osteoclast marker cathepsin K, which is an osteoclast protease that bears primary responsibility for resorption of bone. The procedure was performed at room temperature on an automated tissue stainer (Model Mark 5; DPC, Flanders, NJ). When needed, each section was washed in phosphate-buffered saline (1 ml). Deparaffinized sections were pretreated for 15 minutes with trypsin (0.1%, in 1% calcium chloride; Sigma, St. Louis, MO) and then covered for 10 minutes with CAS Block (Zymed Laboratories, San Francisco, CA). Sections were incubated with the primary antibody (1 µg/ml) for 60 minutes and with the biotinylated goat anti-rabbit polyclonal secondary antibody (Vector, Burlingame, CA; used at 1 : 200) for 25 minutes. Next, peroxidase-blocking solution (DAKO Corporation, Carpenteria, CA) was applied for 25 minutes, after which the indirect immunoperoxidase bridge was developed for 25 minutes using a commercial kit incorporating avidinbiotin complex and peroxidase (ABC Elite kit; Vector). Reaction sites were observed using diaminobenzidine (DAB+ Substrate/Chromagen System; DAKO) for 3 minutes and counterstained for 1 minute each with hematoxylin and eosin (HE).
Histopathologic and histomorphometric assessments
Paw sections first were evaluated using tiered, semiquantitative scoring criteria (Table 1) to grade bone erosions and intralesional osteoclasts (visible as cathepsin Klabeled [brown], multinucleated cells) in bones throughout the tibiotarsal and intertarsal joints (Fig. 1). Subsequently, joint integrity was evaluated in a quantitative fashion by measuring bone area (an index of erosion), osteoclasts, and osteoblasts (Table 2) at three specific sites: distal tibia (Fig. 2), navicular tarsal (Fig. 3), and calcaneus (Fig. 4). These three bones were selected because they are affected most severely in rats with AdA when joint structure is examined 7 days after the onset of clinical disease. Quantitative assessments were made using the 20x objective of a Nikon Eclipse E400 microscope and commercial bone histomorphometry software (Osteomeasure, version 4.0; Osteometrics, Decatur, GA). In the tibia (Fig. 2) and calcaneus (Fig. 4), the analysis was performed in two 0.36-mm2 (0.6 x 0.6 mm) fields oriented parallel to but not encompassing the growth plate cartilage. In the navicular tarsal (Fig. 3), the analysis was conducted by imaging a 1.08-mm2 (0.6 x 1.8 mm) rectangle (comprised of three 0.36-mm2 fields) that included 8090% of the total tarsal marrow area. Osteoclasts (i.e., cathepsin Kpositive cells) were enumerated in two ways, those in contact with bone and those in marrow. Total osteoclast numbers were calculated as the sum of the bone and marrow subpopulations.
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The histopathologic lesion scores (ordinal variables) were analyzed using the chi-square test, whereas the histomorphometric data (continuous variables) were assessed using analysis of variance followed by Dunnett's t -test. Both operations were performed using commercially available software (JMP, version 4.0; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). A P value of 0.05 was used to define significant differences between groups.
| Results |
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As expected, the arthritic animals had significantly higher (P
0.05) erosion and osteoclast scores (group mean ± SD, 3.8 ± 0.4 for both scores) than did normal rats (0 ± 0 for both). Both lesion scores for each section were acquired in 1015 seconds. Osteoclasts were most numerous in the navicular tarsal bone (Fig. 5). These cells were activated as indicated by their morphologic features (large, multinucleated cells with many cell processes) and close apposition to eroded (scalloped) bone surfaces (Fig. 6). Although modest bone loss and occasional osteoclasts were observed in the tibial metaphysis (Fig. 7) and calcaneus (Fig. 8), the main characteristic of arthritis at these two sites was an influx of leukocytes into the marrow and surrounding soft tissues.
Quantitative data: bone area and cell counts
The quantitative analysis agreed well with data acquired from this qualitative assessment (Table 3). Osteoclasts were greatly increased in arthritic rats at all three sites, although significant increases in osteoclasts (P
0.05) were found only at two sites (in calcaneus and navicular tarsal but not in tibia). Differences were significant for all seven osteoclast parameters in the navicular tarsal, whereas only one significant difference was apparent in the calcaneus (osteoclast surface as a percentage of bone surface [OcS%BS]). Osteoclast counts in the tibia did not differ significantly from those of normal rats, likely because the variation in osteoclast numbers was quite high relative to the calcaneus and navicular tarsal bones. Joint integrity (bone area as a percentage of total area measured [BAr%TAr] and the bone surface covered by osteoblasts [ObS%BS]) was significantly compromised (P
0.05) in calcaneus, navicular tarsal, and tibia (Table 3). In contrast, normal rats had essentially no osteoclasts, especially in the navicular tarsal. Acquisition of these quantitative measures required 5 (for normal rats) to 20 minutes (for severely arthritic animals) per 0.36-mm2 box, or up to 40 minutes for the calcaneus,60 minutes for the tarsal, and 40 minutes for the tibia (i.e., 140 minutes, or almost 2.5 hours).
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The correlation between semiquantitative findings and the quantitative indices of joint destruction in rats with AdA was dependent on the site at which the quantitative measurements were taken. The best agreement occurred in the tarsal, where good correlations existed between erosion score and bone area (BAr%TAr, r2 = 0.70) and between osteoclast score and total osteoclasts within the area (Total NOc/TAr, r2 = 0.79). The correlations were less remarkable at the other two sites (r2
0.53), especially when comparing the osteoclast measures.
| Discussion |
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0.05) by 3955% at all three sites, with the greatest decrease occurring in the navicular tarsal bone. The Total NOc/TAr was increased substantially at all three sites. Relative to normal animals, the increase in Total NOc/TAr for arthritic rats was modest in the calcaneus (a sevenfold rise, not significant) and tibia (threefold higher, not significant) but was quite pronounced in the navicular tarsal (194-fold more, P
0.05). The increase in osteoclast numbers in the navicular tarsal, although not significantly different from osteoclast counts in the other two bones due to the high variation between rats, exceeded that in the calcaneus and tibia by 79% and 326%, respectively. In this model of AdA, extensive erosion with numerous osteoclasts is a consistent occurrence in the navicular tarsal (Fig. 5), whereas prominent bone destruction and osteoclast production were not usual features of lesions in the tibia (Fig. 7) and the calcaneus (Fig. 8). Thus, the navicular tarsal will be the preferred site for both semi-quantitative and quantitative analyses of skeletal damage in this model of immune-mediated disease. Relative to the present model, however, other arthritis models are distinguished by different lesion patterns and divergent severities of disease. Thus, a similar assessment will be required in these settings to ascertain the preferred site for rapid quantification of bone damage.
The anticathepsin K method is the primary means of detecting osteoclasts in our laboratory because of its sensitivity and specificity when applied to sections of rat bone. Although the antibody we use is proprietary, similar results might be obtained using commercial antibodies. Several firms manufacture antihuman cathepsin K antibodies.12 Although their use would have to be verified empirically in sections of rat bone, we anticipate that one or more of these molecules would function in a manner equivalent to our proprietary anti-human antibody. Should such attempts prove futile, several other means of osteoclast detection exist in the public domain. For example, the enzyme histochemical procedure to demonstrate tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) is a standard technique for identifying osteoclasts in many species. Indeed, our laboratory routinely used a commercial TRAP kit (No. 387-A; Sigma Diagnostics, St. Louis, MO) to detect osteoclasts in rodent bone before switching to the anticathepsin K immunohistochemical method, a change driven by the tedious nature of the TRAP protocol and the similar results obtained using the two techniques (D. Duryea, unpublished). Antibodies against two other osteoclast markerscalcitonin receptor and vitronectin receptor6,15are available from several vendors;12 again, the capacity of these anti-human reagents to function in animal bones has yet to be reported. Molecular probes suitable for in situ hybridization could be designed for osteoclast markers in the event that commercial anti-human antibodies do not work in animal sections. For example, we have labeled osteoclasts in rat tissues with reagents directed against the known gene sequences of mouse calcitonin receptor (GenBank [Gb]: U18542, nucleotides [nts] 1,4781,807), mouse cathepsin K (Gb: x94444, nts 450933), and rat vitronectin receptor
Vß3 integrin (Gb: S58528, nts 359716). The mouse Gb entries were deemed suitable for probing rat specimens because mouse and rat genes exhibit
95% homology over the specified sequences (S. Scully, personal communication). Finally, osteoclast profiles can be enhanced in HE sections by altering the eosin composition to include two additional dyes (final working solution: eosin Y, 238 ml; phloxine B, 6 ml; orange G, 6 ml). An eosin formulation that includes phloxine B and orange G imparts a vibrant rose pink hue to osteoclast cytoplasm that exceeds the contrast afforded by eosin alone.
In conclusion, the navicular tarsal bone is the most sensitive site for assessing bone destruction and intra-lesional osteoclasts in the hind paws of male Lewis rats with mycobacteria-induced adjuvant arthritis. The two most useful gauges of joint integrity were bone area as a percentage of total area measured (an erosion index) and total number of osteoclasts per millimeter of total area measured (which measures all intralesional osteoclasts). If arthritis quantification was limited to this site and these two indices, lesion severity in each arthritic paw could be enumerated in 2030 minutes, which represents an 80% reduction in quantification time relative to the full counting method.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Present address: GEMpath, Inc., 2540 N. 400 W., Cedar City, UT 84720-8400. ![]()
| References |
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synergistically inhibit adjuvant arthritis in Lewis rats. Cell Mol Life Sci 57:1457-1470, 2000[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
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