Glucocorticoids and bone
H Namkung, S Jayram, M Traini, RS Mason
(collaborators: JP Seale, Dept of Pharmacology; K Brown, Dept of Pharmacy)

Glucocorticoids promote bone cell functions in physiological concentrations. When given in high, pharmacological doses, however, their effect is to reduce bone formation with some increase in bone resorption resulting in loss of bone mass. Studies in this laboratory have pointed to two important functional consequences of glucocorticoid treatment of bone cells. Proliferation of early pre-osteoblasts is reduced, whilst the cells undergo accelerated maturation, indicated by high alkaline phosphatase activity. Several glucocorticoid analogues used in respiratory medicine were tested for their potency in the bone formation model. In general, the order of potencies of the glucocorticoids in the bone model is similar to that described using immune cell models.