RESEARCH ARTICLE
Long Term Cyclic Pamidronate Reduces Bone Growth by Inhibiting Osteoclast Mediated Cartilage-to-Bone Turnover in the Mouse
K.D Evans1, L.E Sheppard1, D.I Grossman1, S.H Rao2, R.B Martin2, A.M Oberbauer*, 1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2008Volume: 2
First Page: 121
Last Page: 125
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-2-121
DOI: 10.2174/1874325000802010121
Article History:
Received Date: 3/6/2008Revision Received Date: 17/6/2008
Acceptance Date: 24/6/2008
Electronic publication date: 14/7/2008
Collection year: 2008

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Bisphosphonates, used to treat diseases exhibiting increased osteoclast activity, reduce longitudinal bone growth through an as yet undefined mechanism. Pamidronate, an aminobisphosphonate, was given weekly to mice at 0, 1.25, or 2.50 mg/kg/wk beginning at 4 weeks of age. At 12 weeks of age, humeral length, growth plate area, regional chondrocyte cell numbers, chondrocyte apoptosis, TRAP stained osteoclast number, and osteoclast function assessed by cathepsin K immunohistochemistry were quantified. Humeral length was decreased in pamidronate treated mice compared to vehicle control mice, and correlated with greater growth plate areas reflecting greater proliferative and hypertrophic chondrocyte cell numbers with fewer hypertrophic cells undergoing apoptosis. Pamidronate treatment increased TRAP stained osteoclast numbers yet decreased cathepsin K indicating that pamidronate repressed osteoclast maturation and function. The data suggest that long term cyclic pamidronate treatment impairs bone growth by inhibition of osteoclast maturation thereby reducing cartilage-to-bone turnover within the growth plate.