Bone Abstracts

Osteoclasts secrete acid and cathepsin K to dissolve the mineral and digest the organic matrix of bone, cartilage and dentine. The secretions are by necessity destructive and potentially harmful to the cell itself and are therefore trafficked through the cell in membrane bound vesicles. Secretion takes place over a specialised membrane compartment, the ruffled border, which is only present in resorbing osteoclasts. The ruffled border membrane and the vesicles in its vicinity h...

Osteoclasts are the only cell type capable of resorption of mineralised matrix such as bone or dentine. Resorbing osteoclasts form distinct membrane domains: the functional secretory, the basolateral and the ruffled border (RB) domains. The RB allows acidification of the resorption lacuna, exocytosis of osteolytic enzymes and uptake of degraded bone material, processes that require directed vesicular transport. Few studies have tried to classify the vesicles near the RB into s...