Characterization of the osteocyte lacunocanalicular network in normal and Paget's disease bone and study of bone cell resistance to lowered pH

As the complex osteocyte lacunocanalicular network may play an important role in normal bone, abnormalities were characterized in a bone disease of abnormal remodeling, Paget's disease. The osteoclast has been implicated as the mediator of this disease, but osteocytes may also be involved. There is little information about the fate of an osteocyte after bone remodeling. Therefore the aims for this proposal were to characterize the osteocyte lacunocanalicular network in normal and Pagetic bone, determine if canaliculi can connect across reversal lines, and examine whether osteocytes may be more resistant to the low environmental pH of the resorbing osteoclast.

The osteocyte lacunocanalicular system was found to be distinctly different in Pagetic bone as compared to normal. Canaliculi showed connectivity across reversal lines in both normal and diseased bone. Additionally osteocyte-like cells were found to be more resistant to reduced pH than other cell types and therefore more likely to survive the reduced pH under the osteoclast ruffled border.