In Vitro Osteoclast Assays

Overview

The Pharmatest Services CRO has developed proprietary preclinical in vitro osteoclast assays specifically designed for pharmacodynamic testing of new therapeutic agents against osteoporosis and cancer-induced bone disease before entering animal studies.

Design

These assay developments involve culturing osteoclast precursor cells that are first allowed to differentiate into mature bone-resorbing osteoclasts, enabling to study direct effects of drug candidates on osteoclast formation. The culture period can then be extended to allow the formed mature osteoclasts to resorb bone, enabling to study direct effects of drug candidates on resorption activity of mature osteoclasts.
Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP 5b) secreted into the culture medium is determined as an index of the number of formed osteoclasts at the end of the osteoclast differentiation period. At the end of the resorption period, C-terminal cross-linked telopeptides of type I collagen (CTX-I) are released into the culture medium as an index of resorption activity of mature osteoclasts.

Advantages

Pharmatest uses commercially available bone marrow derived human osteoclast precursor cells that are cultured on bovine bone slices in the presence of appropriate growth factors such as RANKL and M-CSF. Rapid determination of TRACP 5b and CTX-I as endpoint measurements saves a substantial amount of time and workload. It also gives more reliable results than using conventional microscopic techniques.
Effects on resorption activity of mature osteoclasts can also be studied using rat and osteoclasts, if requested.

Resources

Click on in vitro osteoclast assays for more information.
Click on Pharmatest to contact the company directly.

Supplier Information
Supplier: Pharmatest Services Ltd
Address: Itäinen Pitkäkatu 4 C, 5th floor, 20520 Turku, Finland
Tel: +358 2 278 4700
Fax: +358 2 278 4710
Website: www.pharmatest.com