The generation of highly enriched osteoclast-lineage cell populations

Abstract

Osteoclasts form when hematopoietic cells are stimulated by macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) or tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα). Osteoclast precursors derive from M-CSF-dependent proliferating hematopoietic cells but cannot yet be purified from mixed populations. M-CSF stimulation of bone marrow cells results in large numbers of nonadherent, proliferating macrophage precursors. These rapidly form adherent bone marrow macrophages (BMM). BMM and their precursors can be isolated free from mesenchymal and lymphocytic cells. BMM precursors derived from CBA-strain mouse bone marrow, when cocultured with ST2 cells (which express RANKL and M-..