The formation of bone occurs via a series of events that are regulated by various hormones and cytokines. We previously reported that endothelin (ET) inhibits the mineralization by osteoblastic cells and natriuretic peptide (NP) promotes osteoblastic differentiation. Therefore, we attempted to identify the genes induced by ET or NP in mouse preosteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells using the method known as differential display-polymerase chain reaction (DD-PCR) to understand the bone metabolism further. Consequently, we found that expression levels of mRNAs for fibronectin, type XII collagen, p160 Rho-associated kinase (ROCK), caldesmon, calpain, nucleolin and a novel gene with a zinc finger motif are downregulated in osteoblasts by ET stimuli. We also found that expression levels of mRNAs for eIF-4A and a novel gene are increased by C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) stimuli.