In bone remodeling, the Eph family is involved in regulating the process of osteoclast and osteoblast coordination in order to maintain bone homeostasis. In this study, the effects of Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (Pg-LPS) on the osteoblast-osteoclast bidirectional EphB4-EphrinB2 signaling were investigated. An osteoblast-osteoclast co-culture system was achieved successfully. Hence, direct contact and communication between osteoblasts and osteoclasts was permitted. Regarding the protein expression and gene expression of EphB4 and EphrinB2, it was shown that Pg-LPS increased the expression of EphB4 while inhibiting the expression of EphrinB2. Therefore, the results indicate that, when treated with Pg-LPS, the EphB4 receptor on osteoblasts and the EphrinB2 ligand on osteoclasts may generate bidirectional anti-osteoclastogenic and pro-osteoblastogenic signaling into respective cells and potentially facilitate the transition from bone resorption to bone formation. This study may contribute to the control of osteoblast differentiation and bone formation at remodeling, and possibly also modeling, sites.
Keywords: EphB4; EphrinB2; Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide; bidirectional signaling.