Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Top
  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal
  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Advertisement

Amendment history:
  • Correction (November 1995)

Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI117738

Regulation of human bone marrow-derived osteoprogenitor cells by osteogenic growth factors.

M W Long, J A Robinson, E A Ashcraft, and K G Mann

Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.

Find articles by Long, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.

Find articles by Robinson, J. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.

Find articles by Ashcraft, E. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.

Find articles by Mann, K. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published February 1, 1995 - More info

Published in Volume 95, Issue 2 on February 1, 1995
J Clin Invest. 1995;95(2):881–887. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI117738.
© 1995 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published February 1, 1995 - Version history
View PDF
Abstract

Human bone marrow contains a distinct cell population that expresses bone proteins and responds to transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta), but not to hematopoietic growth factors (Long, M. W., J. L. Williams, and K. G. Mann. 1990. J. Clin. Invest. 86:1387-1395). We now report the isolation, characterization, and growth factor responsiveness of these precursors to human osteoblasts and the identification of a human osteoprogenitor cell. Immunological separation of human bone marrow nonadherent low-density (NALD) cells results in a marked enrichment of cells that express osteocalcin, osteonectin, and bone alkaline phosphatase. Flow cytometric analyses show that distinct cell subpopulations exist among these isolated cells. The majority of the bone antigen-positive cells are approximately the size of a lymphocyte, whereas other, less frequent antibody-separated subpopulations consist of osteoblast-like cells and osteoprogenitor cells. In serum-free cultures, TGF-beta stimulates the small, antigen-positive cells to become osteoblast-like, as these cells both increase in size, and express increased levels of osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase. Antibody-separated cells also contain a separate population of clonal progenitor cells that form colonies of osteoblast-like cells when cultured in serum-free, semi-solid media. Two types of human osteoprogenitor cells are observed: a colony-forming cell (CFC) that generates several hundred bone antigen-positive cells, and a more mature cluster-forming cell that has a lesser proliferative potential and thus generates clusters of 20-50 antigen-positive cells. Osteopoietic colony-forming cells and cluster-forming cells have an obligate but differential requirement for osteogenic growth factors. The CFCs respond to TGF-beta, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2), and 1, 25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1,25-OH D3). In contrast to the colony-forming cells, cluster-forming cells are regulated predominantly by 1,25-OH D3 and TGF-beta, but fail to respond to bFGF. We conclude that human bone marrow contains a nonhematogenous, heterogeneous population of bone precursor cells among which exists a population of proliferating osteoprogenitor cells. Further characterization of these bone precursor cell populations should yield important information on their role in osteogenesis in both health and disease.

Images.

Browse pages

Click on an image below to see the page. View PDF of the complete article

icon of scanned page 881
page 881
icon of scanned page 882
page 882
icon of scanned page 883
page 883
icon of scanned page 884
page 884
icon of scanned page 885
page 885
icon of scanned page 886
page 886
icon of scanned page 887
page 887
Version history
  • Version 1 (February 1, 1995): No description

Article tools

  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal

Metrics

  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Go to

  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Advertisement
Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts