ABSTRACT
The scope for direct experimentation with prostaglandins (PGs) on bone resorption in vivo is somewhat limited, and it is no accident that investigations of PG metabolism with respect to bone pathology have followed tissue culture experiments rather than preceded them. Although experiments involving administration of PGs in vivo have severe limitations, the use of humans and animals has been very valuable for investigating PGs in bone resorption. Animals have been used for studies of PGs in experimental bone resorption in two main areas: malignancy and periodontal disease. Many years before the discovery of PGs, bone and cartilage had been cultured in vitro in order to examine various aspects of their growth and behavior. As the connection between PGs and bone resorption was uncovered in 1970, the methodology for examining their effects on bones in vitro was not only available but primed by the interest in vitamin D metabolites and parathormone.
