Osteopontin (OPN), a noncollagenous, extracellular matrix sialoprotein found at relatively high levels in both normal and pathological mineralized tissues, is expressed by tissue-specific cells in bone, calcified cartilage, and teeth. On the other hand, a hallmark of OPN expression in pathologically mineralizing tissue, and in other soft tissues experiencing a more generalized type of necrotic injury, is the production of OPN by macrophages at the lesion site. In the present study, we have localized OPN and other noncollagenous proteins by ultrastructural colloidal-gold immunocytochemistry using a rat model in which mineralized tissue defects are surgically created in mandibular bone and teeth. The healing response was examined by immunocytochemistry and transmission electron microscopy at 10 min, 3 days and 7 days post-surgery using antibodies against OPN, bone sialoprotein, osteocalcin, bone acidic glycoprotein-75, fibronectin, and amelogenin. Whereas most of these proteins were characteristically distributed within their respective extracellular matrices as described previously, OPN was additionally observed to accumulate as a lamina limitans at surgically exposed bone and tooth surfaces, as well as at the surface of particulate, mineralized tissue debris. Intracellular labeling of the Golgi apparatus and secretory granules of macrophages at the lesion site demonstrated that OPN production by macrophages was a prominent secretory event of the inflammatory response during wound healing in mineralized tissues. Pseudopodal and lamellipodal cytoplasmic extensions of macrophages were observed in direct contact with the OPN-containing lamina limitans at these surfaces. Particulate, calcified debris internalized by macrophages also displayed a prominent surface "coating" of OPN. In conclusion, our interpretation of the present data is that OPN secreted by macrophages may serve as a macrophage adhesion protein, and where concentrated at the surface of small particulate, mineralized tissue debris, may act as an opsonin, thereby facilitating cell adhesion and phagocytosis by macrophages, a process likely mediated by integrin-binding, signal transduction, and cytoskeletal restructuring.