Biological Effect of Estradiol on phosphatase activities in rabbit cultured chondrocytes

Estrogens stimulate skeletal growth in human during puberty but increase cartilage maturation. Between all the metabolic transformations which occur during maturation of growth plate

cartilage, there is an increase in alcaline phosphatase in the precalcified zone. In this study, chondrocytes in culture were prepared from male or female rabbits of different ages. The

cells deprived of foetal calf serum for 20 hours were then incubated with increasing concentrations (10−12M to 10−7M) of estradiol during 24 hours. Alcaline and acid phosphatase activities

were then measured using paranitrophenylphosphate as substrate. In chondrocytes from female rabbits one can observe an increase in phosphatase activities between 10−11M to 10−9M. At lower

and higher concentrations, the phosphatase activities remain as control. This stimulation is present, whatever the age of the rabbit (300g, 1000g, 2000g). No effect is observed when

chondrocytes from 300g male rabbits are used. A slight but significant inhibition of phosphatase activities is shown using chondrocytes from 1000g or 2000g male rabbits.

In conclusion, estradiol stimulates acid and alcaline phosphatase activities in cartilage in vitro. This effect is sex dependent but does not seem to be related to the age of the animal.

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