Leukemia inhibitory factor inhibits osteogenic differentiation in rat calvaria cell cultures

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine with both anabolic and catabolic effects on bone tissue. To investigate the effect of LIF on bone formation in the absence of a resorption cycle, we used fetal rat calvaria cell cultures and quantified bone nodule production, which provides a colony assay to analyze the effects of factors on osteoprogenitor differentiation and bone formation. In these cultures, dexamethasone (Dex) stimulates bone nodule formation. In dose-response experiments, LIF inhibited bone nodule formation by cells cultured with (+Dex; ID50 = 250 U/ml) or without (-Dex; ID50 = 30 U/ml) 10(-8) M Dex. Residual nodules were small and poorly mineralized. Continuous exposure to LIF (500 U/ml) up to day 25 did not affect either the growth rate or saturation density of the cultures, but decreased alkaline phosphatase activity and bone nodule production, with greater inhibition in -Dex cultures. Exposure to LIF (500 U/ml) for 3 days early during nodule formation (about day 10) reduced bone nodule numbers to the same extent as continuous treatment in -Dex cultures and significantly, but less markedly, in +Dex cultures; earlier and later pulses had no effect. Northern blot analysis of expression of messenger RNAs of bone related proteins in cultures pulsed (-Dex) at various stages of development showed marked inhibition of alkaline phosphatase, bone sialoprotein, and osteocalcin; slight inhibition of type I collagen; early stimulation of osteopontin; and no effect on Secreted Protein, Acidic and Rich in Cysteine/osteonectin. These results suggest that LIF is an inhibitor of bone nodule formation in these cultures, acting at a stage when late osteoprogenitors and/or early osteoblasts are present, and that Dex may modulate the effects of LIF by shifting effective doses to higher concentrations.