BMP-4 response in wild-type and craniosynostotic rabbit bone cells

Craniosynostosis results from improper regulation of bone formation. Investigations of cells derived from patients with craniosynostosis suggest that craniosynostotic bone-derived cells have increased osteogenic or proliferative capacities compared with other cells. Research into the pathogenesis of craniosynostosis using cells derived from children has been hindered by small sample sizes and inappropriate control cell populations. The authors hypothesized that cells derived from suture-associated regions of bone from craniosynostotic rabbits were more osteogenic and proliferative than bone cells derived from wild-type rabbits.

This study used cells derived from a colony of rabbits with congenital, nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (n = 20) or from age-matched wild-type rabbits (n = 20). Bone cells derived from either suture-associated or non-suture-associated bone were challenged with osteogenic stimuli and assessed for osteogenic differentiation.

The results suggest a high level of variability among cells derived from different individual rabbits. Also, craniosynostotic bone cells have a larger response to recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 4 stimulation relative to baseline expression of alkaline phosphatase, although overall alkaline phosphatase expression was higher in wild-type bone cells. Cell proliferation showed some differences at 3 days in culture, but no differences were found at 7 days in culture.

This study suggests that bone cells in this rabbit model of craniosynostosis are generally similar to wild-type cells. Also, because of variability, it is necessary to have larger sample sizes than are normally available in human studies. Therefore, cells from the rabbit model may be a powerful in vitro model for further craniosynostosis research.