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Calbindin-D9K immunoreactivity was localized by electron microscopy in rat calcifying epiphyseal plate cartilage. Antigen-antibody reaction sites were visualized by the presence of protein A-gold complex particles on undecalcified material embedded in Lowicryl K4M. Immunoreactive calbindin-D9K was found in the hyaloplasm of hypertrophic chondrocytes and inside and at the ends of their cell processes. It was localized outside the cells, inside matrix vesicles (MVs), often against the inner face of the delimiting membrane, and inside the trilaminar membrane. Immunoreactive calbindin-D9K appeared to be extruded from the chondrocytes into the matrix vesicles when the latter were formed during the budding of cell processes. In calcifying MVs, gold particles were detected over the needle-shaped crystallites and often over the crystallites lying against the inner leaflet of the vesicular membrane. At a later stage of matrix vesicle calcification after MV membrane disruption, the number of gold particles remained unchanged over the clusters of crystallites at the loci from which the crystallites appeared to have grown and radiated. At a yet more advanced stage of calcification, they remained in the same areas, which were limited to the lateral edges of calcified cartilage longitudinal septa. These results suggest that immunoreactive calbindin-D9K plays a role in calcium input to matrix vesicles and may be involved in matrix vesicle calcification, perhaps in the initial event of matrix vesicle crystal nucleation.

Calbindin-D 28 kDa (CaBP 28 kDa), a vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein, has been associated with calcium handling by cells. We have investigated the expression of this protein in the rat incisor enamel organ, an epithelium interposed between a mineralizing matrix and connective tissue rich in blood vessels, by radioimmunoassay (RIA), Western blotting, and quantitative protein A-gold immunocytochemistry with antibodies to rat kidney CaBP 28 kDa. RIA of cytosolic extracts showed that enamel organs contained relatively high concentrations of CaBP 28 kDa (compared to kidney; see review by Christakos S., C. Gabrielides, and W.B. Rhoten 1989 Endocr. Rev., 10:3-25). Immunoblotting of proteins extracted from enamel organ strips revealed an intensely-stained band near 28 kDa throughout amelogenesis following ameloblast differentiation. Immunocytochemically, CaBP 28 kDa was localized exclusively within ameloblasts. The density of labelling increased from the presecretory stage to the secretory stage and fluctuated across the maturation stage in relation to ameloblast modulation. Ruffle-ended ameloblasts consistently showed the most intense immunoreaction. Gold particles were present throughout the cytoplasm and nuclei of ameloblasts but regions rich in rough endoplasmic reticulum or cell webs showed a higher immunolabelling. Some gold particles were also associated with the external face of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Multivesicular bodies in maturation stage ameloblasts were occasionally immunoreactive. These data suggest that the intracellular concentration of CaBP 28 kDa is regulated throughout amelogenesis reflecting a stage-specific control of calcium homeostasis in ameloblasts.

The distribution and subcellular localization of the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 receptor (VDR) in the epiphyseal cartilage of normal weaning rats were examined immunocytochemically at the light and electron microscope level using a monoclonal anti-VDR antibody (9A7 gamma). VDR immunoreactivity was detected in the nuclei of chondrocytes in all zones of the epiphyseal plate cartilage from the resting to calcifying chondrocytes, and at much lower concentrations, in the cytoplasms. Perichondrial mesenchymal cells contained no VDR immunoreactivity. VDR immunoreactivity developed in the nuclei of cells in the lateral margin area as they acquired the chondroblast phenotype. VDR immunoreactivity was also found over the nucleoli of chondrocytes in all cells zones of the epiphyseal plate and appeared in the nucleoli of the cells in the lateral margin area before immunostaining of the nuclei, as the mesenchymal cells differentiated into chondroblasts. Electron microscopy showed that the immunoreactivity for 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor, indicated by gold particles, was associated with scattered clumps of compact chromatin and small clumps of dispersed chromatin. But the nuclei immunostaining patterns before and after mitosis were different in proliferative chondrocytes. The heterochromatin along the nuclear envelope was immunonegative in interphase chondrocytes, but there was VDR immunostaining over the rim of the perinuclear chromatin just after mitosis. In the nucleoli, the dense fibrillar component was immunostained, but the fibrillar centers and the perinuclear chromatin were not. This distribution of VDR immunoreactivity suggests that the hormone is directly involved in differentiation, proliferation and maturation of cartilage cells, and also with extracellular calcification in epiphyseal cartilage. The presence of immunoreactive VDR receptors in nucleoli of chondrocytes, particularly the fibrillar component, suggests that 1,25(OH)2D3 may be involved in regulation of ribosomal genes.

Experimental and clinical data indicate that dentin mineralization is vitamin D-dependent. This calcium-regulating steroid controls protein synthesis, for instance that of osteocalcin in osteoblasts. This protein also elaborated by odontoblasts was used as a molecular marker for vitamin D action on odontoblasts. Since the most characteristic protein synthesized by odontoblasts is the dentin phosphoprotein which is thought to regulate hydroxyapatite growth, its cellular and extracellular distribution was also studied. Tooth formation in the molars and incisors of successive generations of vitamin D-deficient animals (-D) and in controls (+D) was compared by microadiography, toluidine blue histochemistry, and immunocytochemistry. In -D samples, the presence of dentin phosphoprotein in odontoblasts indicated that their differentiation occurred despite major morphological disturbances at the cusp tips. In contralateral teeth, osteocalcin was depleted in odontoblasts and dentin, suggesting an inhibition of protein synthesis induced by vitamin D-deficiency. In the extracellular matrix of +D animals, phosphoprotein distribution was associated with dentin, especially within actively forming calcospherites at the mineralization front. In contrast, in -D dentin, the mineralization defects corresponded to irregular absence of histochemically detectable phosphoprotein. This protein indeed appeared either absent or uniformly sparse in -D dentin by immunocytochemistry. These data suggest that vitamin D acts directly on odontogenic cells at various synthetic (osteocalcin) or secretory (phosphoprotein) levels indicating that odontoblasts are target-cells for vitamin D. Therefore, this hormone could contribute to the regulation of extracellular mineralization during dentinogenesis, via different mechanisms in the processing of matrix protein.

This electron microscope study describes the subcellular occurrence and distribution of immunoreactive calbindin-D9K in the trabecular metaphyseal and compact cortical bone of normal rats, rachitic vitamin-D-deficient rats, and rachitic rats given 1,25-(OH)2D3. Undecalcified bones were embedded in Lowicryl K4M and calbindin-D9K antigenicity was detected by the protein A-gold method. Immunoreactive calbindin-D9K was localized in the cytoplasm and cell processes of osteoblasts and osteocytes. Immunoreactive calbindin-D9K was also found within matrix vesicles and calcifying matrix vesicles, where it lay over the needle-shaped crystallites, at the apparent site of initial crystal formation, but not along the whole crystallites. In fully mineralized bone it occurred at the same site, over the crystallites. Calibindin-D9K was vitamin-D-dependent in the osteoblasts and matrix vesicles, where its presence was correlated with the reappearance of crystallites in 1,25-(OH)2D3-treated vitamin-D-deficient rats. This suggests that immunoreactive calbindin-D9K is involved in mineral deposition in bone matrix vesicles. Abnormal intracellular calcification associated with calbindin-D9K antigenicity in the osteoblasts of 1,25-(OH)2D3-treated vitamin-D-deficient rats indicates that immunoreactive calbindin-D9K may also play a part in abnormal intracellular mineral deposition.

The immunocytochemical patterns of calbindin-D 9k (CaBP 9 k) and calbindin-D 28 k (CaBP 28 k) were compared by light and electron microscopy throughout amelogenesis. Labelling on serial sections and co-localization of CaBPs confirmed that the two proteins were restricted to a single cell type, the ameloblasts. Their quantity increased during presecretion, was stable during secretion and alternately high and low during the cyclic modulation of ameloblasts which occurs during maturation. Ruffle-ended ameloblasts contained the highest apparent concentration. Investigations with several fixatives indicated that the CaBPs were present in the cytosol and the nucleus, although there were slight differences with various fixatives by light microscopy. Their concentrations in these compartments varied in parallel throughout amelogenesis. However, mitochondria contained only immunoreactive CaBP 9 k. While the distribution of CaBP 9 k in zones containing Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum was similar, CaBP 28 k concentration has, in another paper, been shown to be higher near the rough endoplasmic reticulum.

Since intestinal calcium-binding protein (CaBP) can be regarded as an expression of the hormone-like action of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) on the duodenal enterocyte we have investigated the potential biological activity of 25R and 25S,26-(OH)2D3 (two recently synthesized epimers of vitamin D3 metabolite) to promote intestinal CaBP production as compared to bone calcium mobilization in vitamin D and calcium-deficient rats. In our assay steroids exhibited a 72 hour calcemic response. Our results show a linear relationship between CaBP synthesis and the logarithm of the dose (130-2080 pmol dose range) of either 25R or 25S epimer. The CaBP response was comparable for both epimers. Similarly bone calcium mobilization response was dose related as a linear function of the logarithm of the administered dose. Again, calcemic response was comparable for both epimers. In our model these two epimers were about as active on intestine to increase CaBP amount as on bone to elevate serum calcium level. Bilateral nephrectomy abolished CaBP response to a large dose (1040 pmol) of either 25R or 25S epimer but did not abolish it to a 130 pmol dose of 1alpha,25-(OH)2D3.

In rats, at day 20 of pregnancy, the placenta and the fetal intestine contain calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs) which closely resemble the vitamin D-dependent CaBP of the adult rat duodenal mucosa. A significant and specific increase of the dam intestinal CaBP likely synthesized as a result of pregnancy, is observed. A 5 week-vitamin D-depletion promoted a decrease of the CaBP content of the dam intestine and of its calcemia. No changes were detected in the non-pregnant animals. Likewise, neither fetal calcemia nor CaBP contents of the feto-placental unit were affected. Such findings suggest i) that pregnancy elicits the vitamin D-sensitivity of rats and ii) that a slight vitamin D-deficiency acts only on the maternal compartment. Although the vitamin D-dependence of placental and fetal CaBPs remains to be demonstrated, our results suggest that these proteins act in concert with the maternal CaBP, to favour a mother to fetus transfer of calcium in order to satisfy the needs of the mineralizing fetal skeleton.

The yolk sac in rats is an organ of exchanges between the mother and fetus. A vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein (CaBP) has been recently described in this organ. This led us to investigate the presence of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) receptor-like proteins in the yolk sac cytosol. For this purpose we have utilized sucrose gradient centrifugation, Scatchard analysis, and DNA-cellulose chromatography. Our results show that cytosol prepared from rat yolk sacs contains a 3.3 S binding protein for 1,25-(OH)2D3. The binding is a highly specific, saturable process with high affinity(2 X 10(-10) M at 25 degrees C). The sterol-protein complex binds to DNA-cellulose. The 1,25-(OH)2D3 binding protein is present in the yolk sac from at least the 15th day until the 21st day of gestation. In contrast, such a binding protein is not found in the amnion, the other component of fetal membranes. The biochemical parameters of the 1,25-(OH)2D3 binding protein in the yolk sac are similar to those of 1,25-(OH)2D3 cytosolic receptors in vitamin D target organs. This strongly suggests that the 3.3 S protein in the yolk sac may function as a specific receptor, indicating that this organ may be a new target organ for vitamin D.

The role of vitamin D on tooth-germ development was studied. The molars of vitamin D-deficient rats were compared with those of vitamin D-replete controls. The deficiency disturbed enamel and dentine mineralization and decreased their matrix secretion. Morphogenesis was affected; teeth were flattened and the whole of the epithelio-mesenchymal junction rippled. Where this irregularity was maximal, the inner dental epithelium and stratum intermedium were intermingled and the adjoining sub-odontoblast cells were mixed with poorly polarized odontoblasts. The cytodifferentiation of both central and sub-odontoblastic cells was inhibited. Thus vitamin D has a role in the early events of tooth development: morphogenesis, histodifferentiation and cytodifferentiation of pulp cells as well as in enamel and dentine mineralization.

Regulation of the expression of vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein (Mr 9000 CaBP) gene by 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25-(OH)2D3) was studied in the rat duodenum. In vivo stimulation of Mr 9000 CaBP synthesis was analyzed using a complementary DNA probe and by measuring the rate of Mr 9000 CaBP gene transcription in isolated nuclei (run-on assay). A single 1,25-(OH)2D3 injection (650 pmol/100 g of body weight) induced a 2-fold increase in Mr 9000 CaBP gene transcription within 15 min in the duodenum of vitamin D-deficient rats. RNA synthesis was maximal at 1 h, then decreased until 16 h of postinjection. There was an initial transient accumulation of Mr 9000 CaBP mRNA (from 7 to 15 min), which was followed by a second, significant increase, by 3 h which remained elevated until 16 h. The magnitude and time course of the Mr 9000 CaBP increase was similar to that of its mRNA as early as 1 h after 1,25-(OH)2D3 administration. Mr 9000 CaBP gene transcription was not significantly induced by 1,25-(OH)2D3 in vitamin D-replete rats and no transient accumulation of Mr 9000 CaBP mRNA was observed. Thus, 1,25-(OH)2D3 modulates Mr 9000 CaBP gene expression in at least two ways, a rapid transcriptional stimulation and a post-transcriptional effect preventing degradation of Mr 9000 CaBP transcripts and accounting for their accumulation several hours after the hormone treatment.

At the end of gestation plasma levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D were lower in pregnant than non pregnant female rats. In fetal plasma, concentrations of both metabolites were higher than in maternal plasma. This materno-fetal gradient led us to compare maternal and fetal plasma binding abilities. Fetal plasma was half as potent in binding 25-hydroxyvitamin D as maternal plasma. In fetal plasma binding was mainly due to the plasma vitamin D binding protein. On the other hand this study clearly showed that amniotic fluid contained 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. In addition this fluid was found to possess vitamin D-metabolite binding activity. The molecule responsible for this has been identified as the plasma vitamin D binding protein.

Sucrose feeding is known to increase the activity of sucrase-isomaltase, the hydrolytic enzyme responsible for surface membrane hydrolysis of this disaccharide. However, the precise mechanism by which this increase occurs remains unknown. Rats that had been maintained on carbohydrate-free pelleted diet were divided into two groups, one of which was fed a diet containing 68% sucrose. The control group continued to consume a carbohydrate-free diet of the same total caloric content. Maximal increase in sucrase activity occurred only 12 h after initiation of the sucrose diet (98 ± 7 mU/mg protein vs. 38 ± 5 for the carbohydrate-free controls). Maximal activity patterns for isomaltase paralleled those for sucrase. The time-course of the rise in sucrase activity was further studied by force feeding rats sucrose; a significant increase in sucrase activity (p 3 H]leucine precursor was administered intraperitoneally, incorporation into brush border sucrase, recovered by specific immunoprecipitation, was two times greater for sucrose-fed than for control rats. Thus, the main mechanism of the early sucrose effect appears to be stimulation of de novo synthesis. Separation of villus and crypt cells 12 h after the beginning of sucrose feeding revealed a parallel increase of sucrase activity along the villus-crypt axis, indicating that the sucrosemediated increase in sucrase activity, rather than acting preferentially on crypts, occurs over the entire villus-crypt unit.

1 ,25(OIQ2D, is presently known as the most potent and rapidly acting metabolite of vitamin Da in increasing intestinal calcium absorption and bone calcium mobilization [ 11. Intestinal CaBP synthesis can be considered to be a molecular expression of the hormonal action of 1,25(OH)aDa on the enterocyte [2] and consequently a sensitive index of the intestinal response to various metabolites of vitamin Da ]3,41. With the aim of assessing the relation of the vitamin D-dependent CaBP to calcium absorption, the time course of intestinal changes in calcium absorption and CaBP levels in response to 1 ,25(OH)zD3 has received considerable attention in the chick [S-7] but has not yet been investigated in mammals. Using a highly sensitive and specific RIA, recently developed in the rat 181, we report here, in this species, the dynamic of changes in intestinal CaBP levels in response to 1 ,25(OH)zDa. The changes in calcium transport and bone calcium mobilization were also examined.

Lung mechanics was studied at 50 days of age in 7 rachitic rats born from mothers deprived of vitamin D. They were compared with 7 control rats raised in the same conditions but fed a diet supplemented with vitamin D. The animals were anesthetized, tracheotomized, and paralyzed. Quasi-static pressure-volume curves of the respiratory system and of the lungs were obtained. Body weight of the rachitic rats was within the range of the control rats, but dry lung weight (LW) was significantly lower (p less than 0.01). Lung volumes in absolute terms and when normalized for LW were significantly lower than in the control rats. Chest wall compliance (Ccw) of the rachitic rats was within the range of values of the control rats, except for 2 animals with an infinite Ccw. Analysis of the pressure-volume curves of the lungs of the rachitic rats compared with those in the control animals showed a significant decrease in lung compliance (CL) and in CL/LW (p less than 0.01), indicating a decrease in lung distensibility. The more severe the rickets (according to microradiographic criteria of the tibia), the lower the CL/LW. It is speculated that decrease in lung distensibility may be related to abnormal lung growth caused by disturbed alveolar formation and lung connective tissue development. These abnormalities could be due to vitamin D deficiency acting on the growing lung, as on the growing bones, by a mechanism involving proteoglycans.

As the duodenal calcium-binding protein (CaBP) can be considered as the molecular expression of the effect of cholecalciferol on the intestine, we investigated the respective effect of 24R,25 and 24S,25-(OH) 2 D 3 on duodenal CaBP production in vitamin D and calcium-deficient rats. Our results showed a linear relationship between CaBP synthesis and the logarithm of the dose of either 24R or 24S epimers. The dose-response curves were parallel and displayed that the 24R epimer was about twice as active as the 24S epimer to promote CaBP synthesis. Similarly bone calcium mobilization response was dose related as a linear function of the logarithm of the administered dose. Again the 24R epimer was about twice as effective as the 24S epimer. However 24R and 24S epimers were respectively four and eight times less active than 1α,25-(OH) 2 D 3 in stimulating bone response. Contrary to the CaBP response, the bone response was maximal and saturable from doses of 1040 pmol of 24R or 24S epimers. Both stereoisomers were more effective in promoting CaBP synthesis than in stimulating bone calcium mobilization. Furthermore bilateral nephrectomy prevents duodenal CaBP response to a large dose (1040 pmol) of 24R,25-(OH) 2 D 3 .

Vitamin D-dependent CaBP isolated from Rat renal cortex (rCaBP) was measured in phosphorus-depleted (OP) and control (C) Rats, either vitamin D-deficient (OD) or vitamin D-supplemented (1 or 10 i. u.). A low molecular weight fraction was isolated from renal cortex by "Sephadex G-100" chromatography and rCaBP activity quantitated by saturation analysis using a 45 Ca chelex assay. The results indicated that phosphorus deprivation resulted in the increase in the vitamin D-dependent rCaBP as well as in the intestinal CaBP. As a marked hypercalciuria was noted in all OP Rats and as the rCaBP activity was high in vitamin D-supplemented Rats and hardly detectable in vitamin D-deficient Rats, the implication of the rCaBP in the large hypercalciuria can be definitely ruled out. Furthermore when vitamin D-supplementation ranged from 1 to 10 i. u. vitamin D, while the serum calcium level was increasing a decrease could be noticed in the large hypercalciuria. This deserves to be related to the increase in rCaBP activity. The high CaBP activity probably resulting from the renal synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol stimulated by phosphorus-deprivation could represent the molecular basis of the calcium tubular reabsorption increased by vitamin D. Thus a vitamin D-dependent protein implicated in an ion-selective transport could be involved in the tubular calcium reabsorption as well as in the intestinal calcium absorption.

The present study has been undertaken to elicit the effects of a low-phosphorous diet on intestinal calcium absorption. Measurements of duodenal calcium-binding protein (CaBP), mucosal calcium, fractional calcium absorption and duodenal calcium transport capacity has been performed in growing rats fed for three weeks a low-phosphorous diet adequate in vitamin-D3. In animals on low-phosphorous diet, the mucosal concentration of CaBP measured by a quantitative competitive binding assay has increased in parallel with the mucosal calcium concentration, the fractional absorption and the calcium transport capacity. Analytical gel electrophoresis of calcium-binding protein in animals fed low-phosphorous diet has shown the presence of a protein band which would involve more than the effect of the stimulated biosynthesis of 1alpha,25-DHCC.

The present study focuses on the ultrastructure of enamel organ cells and the immunolocalization of calbindins D-9kDa and -28kDa during enamel secretion in Vitamin D-deficient rats. Vitamin D-deficiency disturbed the deposition of the layer of inner enamel and depleted the calbindins-content of ameloblasts. These data raise the possibility of a direct action of Vitamin D on the physiology of ameloblasts through ionic calcium homeostasis.

This report presents evidence for the presence of the vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein, calbindin-D9K, in bone cells and matrix. In undecalcified frozen sections of growing and adult rat bone, calbindin-D9K was immunohistochemically localized in trabecular bone of the epiphysis and metaphysis and in cortical bone of the diaphysis. It was found within the cytoplasm of osteocytes, of osteoblasts lining the osteoid, and osteoblasts inside the osteoid seams. It was also found in the osteoblast processes and the anastomosed reticulum of the processes connecting the osteocytes with each other. Extracellularly, calbindin-D9K immunoreactivity was present in compact cortical bone in the areas of the mineralized matrix surrounding the osteocyte lacunae and in the pericanalicular walls containing the cell processes. Calbindin-D9K immunoreactivity was low or absent from the cytoplasm of osteocytes in trabecular bone from severely vitamin D-deficient rats and restored in vitamin D-deficient rats given a single dose of 1,25(OH)2-VitD3. Thus, the synthesis of immunoreactive calbindin-D9K by osteoblasts and osteocytes in trabecular bone is vitamin D-dependent. The presence of immunoreactive calbindin-D9K in the osteocytes and their cell processes suggests that this calcium-binding protein is involved in the calcium fluxes regulating bone calcium homeostasis. Its locatization in osteoblasts involved in bone formation and in their cell processes suggests that it has a role in the calcium transport from these cells towards the sites of active bone mineralization. The extracellular immunoreactive calbindin-D9K in the walls of osteocyte lacunae and pericanalicula margins may have a specific role in those areas. Thus, the distribution of calbindin-D9K immunoreactivity in bone indicates that it may mediate all or part of the action of vitamin D on bone cells and bone mineralization.

Clinical observation of patients with disordered phosphocalcium metabolism has demonstrated that dyschromia and/or dental dysplasias systematically accompany such disorders. A certain action of this steroid on dental buds has been demonstrated after analysis of the effects of experimental vitamin D deficiency in the rat: vitamin D would seem to control the behaviour of cells undergoing differentiation and also after this process is complete. Dentinogenesis and amelogenesis would appear principally to be affected. Two proteins, calbindins D-9K and -28K, may constitute the molecular mediators of this ameloblastic regulation.