Effects of glucocorticoid treatment on the ultrastructure of cartilage and bone.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H D Mosier.
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Long-Evans rats were exposed to a single dose of head X-irradiation (600 rads) at 2 days of age. Experimental and sham irradiated rats were sacrificed at 14, 20-21, 23, 41-45, and 70-71 days. Tibial epiphyseal width and the number of cells in the epiphyseal plate were determined. Histochemical and electron microscopic studies were carried out on both costal and epiphyseal cartilage. Histochemical techniques revealed a reduction in chondroitin sulfate at 14 days in both costal and epiphyseal cartilage of X-irradiated rats. Epiphyseal cartilage demonstrated recovery subsequently, and this was followed by a normal decrease of chondroitin sulfate with increasing age, but costal cartilage did not recover. Collagen synthesis was also reduced in both costal and epiphyseal cartilage, but not as dramatically as chondroitin sulfate. Except for some electron dense cells and reduced scalloping of the cell membrane, costal chondrocytes from irradiated rats did not show major ultrastructural alterations. In contrast, epiphyseal chondrocytes demonstrated radiation induced alterations in organelles, in enhanced glycogen deposition, and in retardation of chondrocyte maturation. Extracellularly in both costal and epiphyseal cartilage of irradiated rats, collagen density and matrix granules were reduced, while calcification of the matrix was enhanced. Beyond 45 days, the effects of irradiation were markedly reduced. Comparisons of the histochemical results with metabolic studies carried out previously in cartilage from the same animals indicated a more direct concordance of the histochemical results with the pattern of physical growth and supported the usefulness of morphologic and histochemical techniques in the analysis of the growth disorder in the head-irradiated rat.
A male infant had precocious puberty and hamartoma of the CNS. Signs of puberty appeared and progressed from 6 months of age. A computed tomographic scan disclosed an interpedunculary tumor. A craniotomy was successfully performed at 11/2 years of age, and 90% of the tumor was removed. Histologically, the tissue was identified as a hypothalamic hamartoma. Pubertal development stopped. The patient is now 4 years 9 months old and well. Review of medical literature covering a span of 47 years showed 50 cases of hamartomas in or near the hypothalamus confirmed by surgical exploration or autopsy. The male-female ratio of hamartomas with precocious puberty derived from these data is 2:1. Convulsions, mental retardation, or behavioral disorders were present in 48% of the cases; 36% had precocious puberty.
The heads of 2-day-old male and female rats were irradiated with a single dose of 600 rads X irradiation, a dose which is known to stunt body weight, tibial length, and tail length, in order to ascertain its effects on synthesis by cartilage of sulfated proteoglycans, DNA, chondroprotein, and collagen as determined by utilization of [35S]sulfate, [Me-3H]thymidine, [1-14C]leucine, and [3,4-3H]proline, respectively. Data have been collected at 20-21, 23, 41-45, and 70-71 days of age. In comparison to controls, growth in body weight, tibial length, and tail length was significantly retarded in irradiated rats of both sexes. Although slow catch-up growth was observed with respect to tail length in both sexes and tibial length in females, a significant deficit in body weight in irradiated rats in both sexes remained at 70-71 days. Cartilage metabolism as evidenced by incorporation of the labeled substances showed no significant disturbance just prior to weaning (20-21 days) or after completion of the principal growth surge (70-71 days). Reduced sulfate and thymidine incorporation attributable to a brief period of undernutrition associated with weaning occurred in head-irradiated rats immediately following weaning (23 days). Increased isotope incorporation occurred at 41-45 days of age in cartilage of irradiated rats incubated with labeled sulfate, leucine, and proline; it did not increase with labeled thymidine. We conclude that neonatal head irradiation slows the rate of growth through the age of most rapid postnatal growth in normal rats. The pattern of cartilage metabolism during this time can be the result either of stimulation by a factor other than somatomedin, or selective inhibition of cartilage thymidine incorporation acting in combination with somatomedin.
The heads of 2 day old male and female rats were X-irradiated with 600 rad. Non-irradiated littermates served as controls. At 40 days of age groups of irradiated and non-irradiated rats were subjected to a 48 hour fast. Non-fasted groups of irradiated and non-irradiated rats were fed ad lib. and were used for comparative studies. Growth of body weight and tail length was recorded at intervals through 70 days of age. At sacrifice, pituitary weight, tibial length, and tibial epiphyseal width were also determined. The results confirm earlier findings that whole head irradiation produces reduced growth of body weight and of tail length which remains uncompensated by catch-up growth. After fasting and then refeeding normal catch-up growth acceleration occurred in both male and female irradiated and nonirradiated animals. The fasted non-irradiated animals caught up to the non-irradiated control rat size for both body weight and tail length. Similarly, the fasted irradiated rats caught up to the irradiated, non-fasted rat size, but did not catch up to the size of the non-irradiated controls. Pituitary weight and tibial length were significantly reduced in irradiated males and females. At sacrifice, no significant difference existed between the fasted and non-fasted subgroups. The tibial epiphyseal growth plate was not narrowed in irradiated rats; fasted rats had increased epiphyseal width during recovery in only one group. We conclude that the catch-up growth control is intact in the head-irradiated stunted rat. The findings suggest that the mechanism which recognizes normal body size (set-point for body size) and which determines the limit of catch-up growth acceleration is reset for a smaller body size by the head-irradiation.
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The effects of pharmacologic doses of dexamethasone, betamethasone, and cortisone given to pregnant rats on gestation days 12 and 13 were studied in mothers and fetuses on gestation day 21. Dexamethasone and betamethasone treatment resulted in a significant decrease in maternal and fetal weight gain, occurrence of cleft palate and omphalocele, and impaired growth of fetal heart, liver, adrenals, kidneys, and skeletal muscle. Cortisone produced fewer developmental defects and less impairment of growth of fetal weight and other organs. Corynebacterium kutscheri infections occurred in pregnant rats treated with dexamethasone but not in rats treated with betamethasone or cortisone. The analogues had widely different effects on organ growth and on the ratios of organ weight to body weight. The findings indicate that proportionate growth of fetal organs and body weight is disturbed by glucocorticoid treatment in rats.
The effects of glucocorticoids on fetal growth and development in the rat were investigated. Pregnant rats were injected subcutaneously on gestational days 12 and 13 with betamethasone (0.18 or 0.42 mg), with dexamethasone (0.12 or 0.24 mg), or with physiological saline. Fetuses at day 21 of gestation were weighed, cleared, and stained for calcification with Alizarin Red S. Fetal weight was significantly reduced at both dose levels of each steroid; a greater reduction occurred with the higher dose. Retardation of growth and of calcification of bones in the axial skeleton occurred at both doses; there was greater retardation with the high dose. In the appendicular skeleton there was enhanced calcification of some bones with the low dose, and a retardation of calcification with the high dose of each steroid. The present findings show that different regions of the fetal skeleton may respond discordantly to the effect of glucocorticoids depending on the dose.
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Cortisone-treated Buffalo rats have been parabiosed with untreated controls of the same age. The optical and electron microscopy, including histochemistry, of costal cartilage of these rats has been compared with that in single cortisone treated rats, single controls, and control parabiosed with control rats, at 14 and 28 days after parabiosis. Single cortisone-treated rats, in comparison to controls, have shown the greatest alteration in cellular morphology and in the extracellular matrix both at 14 and at 28 days. Cortisone-treated parabiosed rats demonstrate a gradation of these alterations. Cellular alterations include enhancement of lipid and glycogen deposition concrurently with the presence of numerous large cytoplasmic vacuoles containing beaded irregularly-shaped filaments, banded or unbanded collagen-like fibrils, and/or electron dense lamellar bodies. In the extracellular matrix, matrix vesicles, amianthoid fibers, randomly oriented unbanded fibrillar materials, and filament-like materials are most prominent in the single cortisone-treated rats and they are progressively less prominent in the cortisone-treated parabiosed rats, and in the parabiosed and single controls. Calcification of the extracellular matrix follows a similar pattern and is observed initially in pericellular halos of the single cortisone and in cortisone-treated rats parabiosed with controls. Histochemical techniques have shown that chondroitin sulfate is less demonstrable in the single cortisone and in the cortisone-treated parabiosed rats than it is in the single or parabiosed controls at 14 days but, at 28 days, all untreated or treated rats, single or parabiosed are basically comparable. Glycoproteins are prominent in the single cortisone-treated rats both at 14 and at 28 days and, at these same times, they are progressively less prominent in the cortisone-treated parabiosed rats and in the single or parabiosed controls. Many of the cortisone induced alterations in costal cartilage are suggestive of enhancement of the aging process.
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Male Long-Evans rats 36 to 39 days of age were fed a diet containing 0.1% propylthiouracil (PTU) for 17 to 20 days followed by the resumption of normal diet. Growth rates of body weight and tail length decreased during PTU treatment and increased during recovery; yet only slight catch-up (compensatory) growth occurred in either body weight or tail length. Although serum thyroxine and triiodothyronine concentrations (radioimmunoassay) decreased significantly during PTU treatment, they returned to normal by recovery day 14. Pituitary immunoassayable growth hormone (GH) content and concentration dropped during PTU-feeding. By recovery day 14 there was significant, but incomplete, repletion of the gland. Serum GH during ether anesthesia was increased significantly during PTU treatment; it remained elevated (NS) and showed greater variability during recovery than in controls. Bioassayable serum somatomedin (Sm) activity decreased during PTU treatment in one of two experiments but returned to a normal level by recovery day 7. The addition of PTU to normal rat serum in concentrations used during PTU treatment failed to alter Sm activity. The addition of L-triiodothyronine and/or L-thyroxine to hypothyroid serum also did not alter Sm activity. In vitro and in vivo cartilage sulfate incorporation decreased during PTU treatment but it rose to greater than control values during the recovery period. The difference in sulfate incorporation between treated and control rats was maintained throughout the observation periods. The results indicate that incomplete catch-up growth following transient hypothyroidism is the result of factors other than deficient GH or Sm production. The implications of the persistent changes in cartilage sulfate metabolism are not clear, but these findings during recovery suggest the possibility that a disturbance of intrinsic cartilage function is a limiting factor preventing full catch-up growth after PTU-induced hypothyroidism.
Male Long-Evans rats were fasted or given cortisone injections beginning at 37 days of age in order to produce growth retardation. They were then allowed to recover for periods of up to 28 days. GH concentration was measured in trunk blood plasma of rats decapitated after minimal stress. During the recovery period there was a significant increase in plasma GH in both experimental groups. Organ weight/body weight ratios for liver and heart, protein/tissue, DNA/tissue, and DNA/protein ratios of liver, heart, and skeletal muscle were found to remain normal or to return to normal values during the recovery periods in both experimental groups. DNA content was reduced in both liver and heart at 14 days. At later recovery periods no significant differences from controls were observed. The findings indicate that increased GH release is common to the growth recovery period after both fasting or cortisone treatment. GH concentration in plasma does not correlate with presence or absence of catch-up growth. The organ weight/body weight ratios correlate with previous findings showing prompt return to normal proportions of body weight to tail length in both the cortisone and fast models irrespective of presence or absence of catch-up growth. The results indicate that failure of catch-up growth after cortisone treatment is not the result of decreased pituitary GH secretion. It is probable that multiple factors working in concert are responsible for recovery after transient growth retardation.
The uptake of sulfate by rib cartilage in vitro and in vivo and the serum somatomedin activity by bioassay were determined in male rats during and after cortisone-induced growth arrest. Experimental treatment consisted of subcutaneous injections of cortisone acetate in a dose of 2.5 mg/rat/day for 4 days, beginning at 29 to 30 days of age in Buffalo rats, or 5 mg/rat/day for 4 or 5 days, beginning at 39 to 41 days of age in Long-Evans rats. Groups of hypophysectomized rats were studied in parallel in one experiment. The sulfate uptake in the controls declined linearly with increasing age in both the in vitro and the in vivo studies. Hypophysectomy resulted in a constant low level of sulfate uptake in vitro. At the end of cortisone treatment, the in vitro sulfate uptake was approximately midway between that of the hypophysectomized rats and that of controls; at 7 days recovery, it was at the control level; at 14 days it showed an additional rise above the control value; from 14 days to 35 days it declined parallel with but above the sulfate uptake of controls. The in vivo sulfate uptake was depressed by cortisone treatment. During recovery it approximately control values at recovery day 21. In succeeding recovery periods in vivo sulfate uptake remained at control levels. Serum somatomedin activity was significantly reduced during cortisone treatment; it returned to the control level by 21 days of recovery. The incubation of the cartilage of controls and cortisone-treated rats at 14 days of recovery with and without the presence of normal rat serum, cortisone recovery serum, or hypophysectomy serum resulted in significantly higher sulfate uptake in the cortisone-treated rat cartilage in each medium. These sera did not differ significantly in their stimulation of sulfate uptake in either cortisone recovery cartilage or control cartilage. Both treated and control cartilage had greater sulfate uptake with larger doses of serum added to the medium. The dose-response curves were parallel during treatment and early recovery; but the slopes of the dose-response curves of the cartilage of cortisone-treated rats were greater than those of the controls during late recovery. It is concluded that the increased in vitro sulfation after 14 days of recovery in cortisone-treated rats signifies a persistent alteration in cartilage metabolism. Normal in vivo sulfate uptake during that time may be the result of humoral controls. A mechanism other than the impairment of somatomedin production is probably involved in the failure of catch-up growth after glucocorticoid treatment in the rat.
Costal cartilage (biopsy) from a 13-year-old boy receiving prolonged prednisone treatment (discontinuously from 2 6/12 to 13 11/12 years) for hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy has been studied and compared with costal cartilage from untreated individuals. Optical and electron microscopic studies including histochemistry have been employed. Chondrocyte degeneration characterized by lipidic material and glycogen in cells is enhanced following prednisone treatment. Acid proteoglycans are reduced in comparison to those in the untreated controls. Amianthoid (asbestoid) collagen fibers, derived from electron-dense bodies which represent remnants of degenerating chondrocytes, occur in all cartilages. A type of collagen similar to fibrous long-spacing collagen has been observed and is prominent in cartilage from the prednisone-treated individual. Evidence suggests that this type of collagen is cellular in origin and represents a transitional form of native collagen. Morphologic changes suggestive of aging are present following prolonged prednisone treatment.
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