[Regulatory mechanisms of skeletal tissues by amino acid signaling]

In this review, we would outline the possible signaling system for three types of amino acids including glutamate (Glu), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and D-serine (D-Ser) to play a role as an extracellular signal mediator in mechanisms underlying maintenance of the cellular homeostasis in skeletal tissues. Although Glu and GABA has been thought to be an excitatory/inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, our molecular biological analyses give rise to a novel function for Glu and GABA as an autocrine and/or paracrine factor in three types of distinct cell types including osteoblasts, osteoclasts and chondrocytes in bone tissues. Moreover, D-Ser plays a pivotal role in osteoclastogenesis through a mechanism related to the incorporation of serine enantiomers in osteoclasts after the synthesis and subsequent release from adjacent osteoblasts. Accordingly, bone formation and maintenance seems to be under control by amino acid signaling in skeletal tissues as seen with neurotransmission in the brain.