Transient estrogen exposure of female mice during early development permanently affects osteoclastogenesis in adulthood

Estrogens modulate bone tissue turnover in both experimental animal models and postmenopausal women. Our previous studies have shown that exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) during the perinatal period increases peak bone mass in female mice in adulthood. We investigated whether developmental DES exposure can influence bone mass by affecting osteoclastogenesis. Female mice were injected with 100 μg/kg body weight DES from days 9–16 of gestation or, alternatively, pups received neonatal injections of 2 μg of DES from days 1–5 of life. Animals were weaned at 21 days of age and effects of estrogen on bone cells were evaluated in adulthood. A significant increase in bone mass in female mice was already observed at 2 months, with a maximal effect in older animals. Bone sections from DES-treated animals showed a significant decrease in osteoclast number and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) enzymatic activity as compared with controls. To verify the importance of the estrogen surge at puberty in this event, a group of control and DES-treated mice were ovariectomized at 17 days to prevent puberty, and potential effect on osteoclastic cells was evaluated in adulthood. As expected, ovariectomy induced an increase of TRAP-positive cells. DES treatment blunted the ovariectomized-dependent increase of the total number of osteoclastic cells, suggesting a role of developmental DES exposure in the process of bone-cell imprinting. Our data indicate, for the first time, that transient changes in estrogen levels during development modulate bone turnover and osteoclastogenesis likely participating in bone-cell imprinting during early phases of bone development, and that this effect could be induced by direct alteration of bone microenvironment.