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¹ Second Department of Pathology, Wakayama Medical University, Kimiidera 811-1, Wakayama City, Wakayama, 641-0012, Japan
² Department of Geriatric Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada 1-1, Ishikawa, Ishikawa, 920-0290, Japan
³ Department of Pediatrics, Wakayama Medical University, Kimiidera 811-1, Wakayama City, Wakayama, 641-0012, Japan
⁴ The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 195 Little Albany Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, USA

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to M Nakamura; Email: marumisa{at}wakayama-med.ac.jp)

Receptor activity modifying proteins (RAMPs) act as receptor modulators that determine the ligand specificity of receptors for the calcitonin (CT) family. The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression of RAMPs in osteoclast-like cells using the laser capture microdissection (LCM) technique. Mouse bone marrow and spleen cells were co-cultured on a film designed for LCM. After 10 days, 250 osteoclast-like cells were captured using the LCM system. Total RNA from these cells was used to synthesize cDNA and RT-PCR analysis was performed. Osteoclast-like cells expressed CT receptor (CTR), CT receptor-like receptor (CRLR) and RAMP2, but did not express RAMP1 or RAMP3. These results indicated (1) that a pure population of osteoclast-like cells can be prepared by LCM and gene expression of this population can be analyzed by RT-PCR and (2) that RT-PCR shows that osteoclast-like cells express RAMP2, CTR and CRLR, suggesting the potential for adrenomedullin binding to osteoclast-like cells. This is the first report that osteoclast-like cells express RAMP2.