Abstract

The role of carbonic anhydrase in bone resorption induced by parathyroid hormone (PTH) and dibutyryl cyclic AMP (DBcAMP) was studied using an in vitro neonatal mouse half-calvarial culture system. Both PTH (16.7 nM) and DBcAMP (0.3 mM) were effective in stimulating bone resorption, as assessed by measuring changes in media calcium concentrations. Bones treated with PTH or DBcAMP for 96 hr contained significantly greater carbonic anhydrase activity than control bones [PTH Treated/Control (T/C) = 2.44; DBcAMP T/C = 2.34]. Both PTH and DBcAMP significantly enhanced calvarial acid phosphatase activity relative to control values [PTH T/C = 1.48; DBcAMP T/C = 1.30]. Neither PTH nor DBcAMP significantly altered calvarial alkaline phosphatase activity. Bone resorption induced by PTH and DBcAMP was inhibited by the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide, but not by the acetazolamide analog CL 13,850 (N-t-butylacetazolamide), which does not inhibit carbonic anhydrase. These results support the concepts that PTH-induced bone resorption requires the action of osteoclastic carbonic anhydrase and that the action of PTH on bone is mediated, in part, by the action of cyclic AMP.