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We have developed a novel assay system combining fluorescent signal-blocking microporous PET membrane inserts and ECM to study dynamic endothelial cell migration and invasion. The assay described here may be applicable to other cell types for analogous assay. The currently used method for analyzing migration and invasion requires the removal of nonmigratory cells from the top of a clear microporous membrane. This laborious step is required to quantitate the invaded or migrated cells on the bottom of the membrane. When the fluorescent signal blocking the microporous membrane is used, the fluorescent signal from noninvaded or nonmigratory cells from the top of the membrane is virtually eliminated and allows for rapid and efficient measurement of the migrated or invaded cells on the underside of the insert. Unlike conventional low throughput migration assays, this assay is easy to perform and provides a quantitative invasion/migration profile of the chemoattractant of choice. This robust automation compatible assay will serve as a powerful tool to screen potential antiangiogenic compounds for drug discovery.

We recently showed that osteogenic protein-1(OP-1), a bone morphogenetic protein member of TGF-beta superfamily, induces endochondral bone formation in vivo, and stimulates growth and differentiation of osteoblasts in rat calvarial-derived cell cultures. In the present study, we examined the effect of OP-1 on cell growth and expression of markers that are characteristic of osteoblast phenotype using the clonal rat osteosarcoma cells (ROS 17/2.8). A comparison of OP-1 and TGF-beta 1 effects on cell growth showed that, both OP-1 and TGF-beta 1 inhibited DNA synthesis up to 90 percent and 60 percent of the controls at concentrations of 10 ng/ml and 1 ng/ml, respectively, in serum-free medium. In the presence of 5% serum, TGF-beta 1 did not have any significant inhibitory effects while 40 ng OP-1/ml inhibited the DNA synthesis up to 80% of the controls. Examination of collagen synthesis showed that 40 ng OP-1/ml increased the expression of type I collagen mRNA, and thus increased collagen synthesis (4-fold), as examined by collagenase-digestible protein. Evaluation of markers that are characteristic of the osteoblast phenotype demonstrated that OP-1 stimulated cAMP production in response to PTH (10-fold at 200 ng/ml), alkaline phosphatase specific activity (ALPase) (4-fold at 80 ng/ml), and osteocalcin (OC) synthesis (4.5-fold at 40 ng/ml). Northern blot analysis revealed that OP-1 increased mRNA expression for both ALPase and OC in a dose-dependent manner. These data collectively demonstrate that OP-1 suppresses cell proliferation and stimulates the expression of markers characteristic of osteoblast phenotype in rat clonal osteoblastic osteosarcoma cells (ROS 17/2.8).

We reported previously that a 32-36-kDa osteogenic protein purified from bovine bone matrix is composed of dimers of two members of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta superfamily: the bovine equivalent of human osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1) and bone morphogenetic protein-2a, BMP-2a (BMP-2). In the present study, we produced the recombinant human OP-1 (hOP-1) in mammalian cells as a processed mature disulfide-linked homodimer with an apparent molecular weight of 36,000. Examination of hOP-1 in the rat subcutaneous bone induction model demonstrated that hOP-1 was capable of inducing new bone formation with a specific activity comparable with that exhibited by highly purified bovine osteogenic protein preparations. The half-maximal bone-inducing activity of hOP-1 in combination with a rat collagen matrix preparation was 50-100 ng/25 mg of matrix as determined by the calcium content of day 12 implants. Evaluation of hOP-1 effects on cell growth and collagen synthesis in rat osteoblast-enriched bone cell cultures showed that both cell proliferation and collagen synthesis were stimulated in a dose-dependent manner and increased 3-fold in response to 40 ng of hOP-1/ml. Examination of the expression of markers characteristic of the osteoblast phenotype showed that hOP-1 specifically stimulated the induction of alkaline phosphatase (4-fold increase at 40 ng of hOP-1/ml), parathyroid hormone-mediated intracellular cAMP production (4-fold increase at 40 ng of hOP-1/ml), and osteocalcin synthesis (5-fold increase at 25 ng of hOP-1/ml). In long-term (11-17 day) cultures of osteoblasts in the presence of beta-glycerophosphate and L(+)-ascorbate, hOP-1 markedly increased the rate of mineralization as measured by the number of mineral nodules per well (20-fold increase at 20 ng of hOP-1/ml). Direct comparison of TGF-beta 1 and hOP-1 in these bone cell cultures indicated that, although both hOP-1 and TGF-beta 1 promoted cell proliferation and collagen synthesis, only hOP-1 was effective in specifically stimulating markers of the osteoblast phenotype.