Extracellular calcium-sensing-receptor (CaR)-mediated opening of an outward K+ channel in murine MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells: evidence for expression of a functional CaR

The existence in osteoblasts of the G-protein-coupled extracellular calcium (Cao2+)-sensing receptor (CaR) that was originally cloned from parathyroid and kidney remains controversial. In our recent studies, we utilized multiple detection methods to demonstrate the expression of CaR transcripts and protein in several osteoblastic cell lines, including murine MC3T3-E1 cells. Although we and others have shown that high Cao2+ and other polycationic CaR agonists modulate the function of MC3T3-E1 cells, none of these actions has been unequivocally shown to be mediated by the CaR. Previous investigations using neurons and lens epithelial cells have shown that activation of the CaR stimulates Ca2+-activated K+ channels. Because osteoblastic cells express a similar type of channel, we have examined the effects of specific “calcimimetic” CaR activators on the activity of a Ca2+-activated K+ channel in MC3T3-E1 cells as a way of showing that the CaR is not only expressed in those cells but is functionally active. Patch-clamp analysis in the cell-attached mode showed that raising Cao2+ from 0.75 to 2.75 mmol/L elicited about a fourfold increase in the open state probability (Po) of an outward K+ channel with a conductance of 92 pS. The selective calcimimetic CaR activator, NPS R-467 (0.5 μmol/L), evoked a similar activation of the channel, while its less active stereoisomer, NPSS-467 (0.5 μmol/L), did not. Thus, the CaR is not only expressed in MC3T3-E1 cells, but is also functionally coupled to the activity of a Ca2+-activated K+ channel. This receptor, therefore, could transduce local or systemic changes in Cao2+ into changes in the activity of this ion channel and related physiological processes in these and perhaps other osteoblastic cells.