In vitro cultured bone cells were found to be responsive to hormones and physical forces. A simple device has been developed which enables the direct application of physical forces to tissue culture dishes to which cells are firmly attached. The physical forces created a deformation of the dish. It was found that prostaglandin E2 synthesis underwent a rapid increase, reaching a maximum after 20 min and then declined. Concurrent with the increase in prostaglandin E2 was an increase in cyclic AMP production, having a maximum around 15 min. The increase in cyclic AMP was blocked by indomethacin, the prostaglandin E2 synthesis inhibitor, indicating the dependence of cyclic AMP production on the de novo synthesis of prostaglandin E2. Prostaglandin E2 added to cells mimicked the effect of physical forces on the production of cyclic AMP. The increase in cyclic AMP resulted from an early rise in adenyl cyclase activity (within 5 min) and a later (10 min) increase in phosphodiesterase activity. The same physical forces also stimulatedthe incorporation of thymidine into DNA after 24 h. On addition of prostaglandin E2 the increase in DNA synthesis was also mimicked. Pretreatment of the cells with indomethacin abolished the effect of physical forces on DNA synthesis.

The results suggest a stimulus receptor mechanism for physical forces which, like hormonal effectors, are mediated by prostaglandins and stimulate cyclic AMP and DNA synthesis.

We believe that physical forces stimulate bone remodelling through such a stimulus receptor system, mediated by prostaglandins.