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Morphological Assessment of the Biological Effects of Eldecalcitol

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Osteoporotic Fracture and Systemic Skeletal Disorders

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Abstract

Therapeutic drugs for osteoporotic patients can be divided into anti-resorptive or anabolic reagents. Eldecalcitol, an analog of active vitamin D3, has been developed in Japan and provides more anti-resorptive effects compared to alfacalcidol—a predrug of eldecalcitol. The anti-resorptive effects of eldecalcitol are reportedly related to the reduced population of preosteoblasts that support osteoclastogenesis, diminished expression of RANKL, and suppressed sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 in circulating osteoclast precursors. Conversely, during the last decade, eldecalcitol has been shown to induce the modeling-based bone formation in trabeculae, i.e., “minimodeling” previously proposed by Frost, in addition to exerting anti-resorptive effects for the osteoporotic treatment. Minimodeling-/modeling-based bone formation is not dependent on foregoing osteoclastic bone resorption; resting osteoblasts, also referred to as bone lining cells, would be activated to deposit new bone on the existing bone. Eldecalcitol-driven minimodeling-/modeling-based bone formation can be seen not only in rodents but also in primates and human patients. Since minimodeling-/modeling-based bone formation is not coupled with osteoclastic bone resorption, eldecalcitol may be able to induce bidirectional function—anti-resorptive effects and anabolic effects mediated by minimodeling-/modeling-based bone formation. In this chapter, studies on the biological effects of eldecalcitol will be introduced.

The present invited review was completed and submitted to the publisher on 24-Feb-20. 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Developmental Biology Hard Tissue, Graduate School of Dental Medicine, and Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Tomoka Hasegawa, Hiromi Hongo, Tomomaya Yamamoto & Norio Amizuka

  2. Northern Army Medical Unit, Camp Makomanai, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Sappro, Japan

    Tomomaya Yamamoto

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  1. Tomoka Hasegawa
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  2. Hiromi Hongo
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  3. Tomomaya Yamamoto
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  4. Norio Amizuka
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Correspondence to Tomoka Hasegawa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Niigata Bone Science Institute, Niigata Rehabilitation Hospital, Niigata, Japan

    Hideaki E. Takahashi

  2. Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiology, Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    David B. Burr

  3. Niigata Bone Science Institute, Niigata Rehabilitation Hospital, Niigata, Japan

    Noriaki Yamamoto

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Hasegawa, T., Hongo, H., Yamamoto, T., Amizuka, N. (2022). Morphological Assessment of the Biological Effects of Eldecalcitol. In: Takahashi, H.E., Burr, D.B., Yamamoto, N. (eds) Osteoporotic Fracture and Systemic Skeletal Disorders. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5613-2_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5613-2_27

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