Vitamin K is no antagonist for the action of warfarin in rat osteosarcoma UMR 106

The recycling of vitamin K in the liver occurs via one or two dithiol-dependent reductases, which are strongly inhibited by coumarin derivatives such as warfarin. This inhibition may be partly overcome by the action of a NADU-dependent reductase, which is relatively insensitive for warfarin. In this paper we demonstrate that the osteoblast-like osteosarcoma UMR 106 does not contain the NADH-dependent reductase. Assuming that a similar enzyme distribution occurs in normal osteoblasts this explains the observation of Price and Kaneda [8], that the administration of vitamin K to rats efficiently counteracted the effect of warfarin on blood coagulation, but that the vitamin had no effect on the Gla-content of serum osteocalcin.