Urinary excretion of the cross-linked alpha 2(I) N-telopeptide (NTx) of type I collagen has proven in clinical studies to provide a highly responsive and specific index of bone resorption. In order to understand better the biological basis of the specificity and responsiveness of this marker, we examined whether osteoclasts cultured on human bone could generate immunoreactive NTx peptide. Mouse bone marrow cultures stimulated with 1,25 diliydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) and hydrocortisone to produce osteoclasts, were cocultured on human bone particles or dentin slices. Aliquots of culture medium were assayed for NTx by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). NTx was detected in the medium 5 days after the addition of bone and continued to be produced linearly over the 14-day culture period. NTx production required attachment to the bone particles or dentin slices of mononuclear and multinuclear cells that stained for tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase. Surface area of resorbed dentin was highly correlated with medium NTx concentration (R2 = 0.84). Production of NTx was suppressed by the osteoclast inhibitors, calcitonin and alendronate, in a dose-dependent manner. Two other markers of bone resorption, hydroxylysyl pyridinoline and lysyl pyridinoline, were found in peptide linkage in the culture medium but not in free form; indicating that the osteoclasts had degraded the bone collagen to peptides but not to the free cross-linking amino acids.