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The effect of chondrocyte growth factor on membrane transport by articular chondrocytes in monolayer culture.

Chondrocyte growth factor (CGF), a contaminant of pituitary glycoprotein hormones, stimulates growth of cultured lapine articular chondrocytes while depressing SO4-proteoglycan synthesis. To study its effect on membrane transport, NIH-bTSH and two other preparations with comparable CGF activity were employed. In early log phase (36 hr) cultures CGF (64 microgram/ml) did not alter thymidine (dThd) uptake during the first 5 min. By 15 min however, TCA-precipitable dThd was 4-fold greater than in controls while the TCA-soluble fraction remained the same. CGF increased deoxy-glucose (DG) uptake in 36-hr old cultures. At 66 hr, CGF reduced DG transport. The transport of cycloleucine (CL) and aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) was reduced by CGF in 36 and 66-hr old cultures. There was a dose dependency between CGF concentration, the lowered uptake of DG, CL and AIB, and cell protein content. The effect of CGF on DG transport and dThd incorporation into DNA was not immediate but required prior exposure of the cells to CGF. CGF did not alter DG transport in rabbit or mouse fibrocytes or Chang liver cells. This and the reported finding that pituitary fibroblast growth factor (FGF), increases amino acid transport in other cells suggests that the biological specificity of CGF may not be identical to that of FGF.

Aminoisobutyric Acids

Extracellular matrix metabolism by chondrocytes. VI. Concomitant depression by exogenous levels of proteoglycan of collagen and proteoglycan synthesis by chondrocytes.

The synthesis of collagen and proteoglycans by cultured chondrocytes, as measured by the incorporation of L-[3H]proline into hydroxyproline and [3H]acetate into glycosaminoglycans, was shown to be depressed by 58% and 39%, respectively, by the addition of exogenous proteoglycan at a concentration of 10 mg/ml growth media. The incorporation of L-[3H]proline into acid-insoluble protein remained unaltered in the presence of the proteoglycan. It was concluded that the effect was depressing the activity on the enzymatic steps, associated with the endoplasmic reticulum, which are responsible for the post-translational modification of collagen and proteoglycan.

Acetates

Extracellular matrix metabolism by chondrocytes. 5. The proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans synthesized by chondrocytes in high density cultures.

Proteoglycans were extracted from the extracellular matrix of cultures of embryonic chick chondrocytes grown at high density and were purified by CsC1 density gradient centrifugation. The chemical, physical and hyaluronate binding properties of the proteoglycans were similar to those observed in proteoglycans from other hyaline cartilages. Proteoglycans in the media were also purified and on analysis showed three populations of proteoglycans to be present. One population had the physical characteristics of a typical proteoglycan subunit and bound hyaluronate, the other two populations were unable to complex with hyaluronate but one had the physical characteristics of the proteoglycan subunit and the other was of smaller molecular weight. The small molecular weight appears to be a product of the enzymatic degradation of the larger molecular weight species.

Cartilage

Extracellular matrix metabolism by chondrocytes. 4. Role of glutamine in glycosaminoglycan synthesis in vitro by chondrocytes.

The rate of synthesis of glycosaminoglycans by cartilage was shown to be dependent on an exogenous source of L-glutamine. In the absence of L-glutamine the tissue and cellular levels of this amino acid were rapidly depleted. The levels of nucleotide sugars and their precursors were measured after separation on Dowex 1 (formate form) in cartilage incubated with and without L-glutamine. It was found that the levels of N-acetylhexoamine 6-phosphate and UDP-N-acetylhexosamine were decreased by 27 and 40% respectively. This demonstrates that L-glutamine is required as the amido group donor in the synthesis of glucosamine 6-phosphate and that the decrease in glycosaminoglycan synthesis is due to the limitation in synthesis of UDP-N-acetylhexoamine.

Animals

Synthesis and extracellular deposition of fibronectin in chondrocyte cultures. Response to the removal of extracellular cartilage matrix.

Fibronectin, the major cell surface glycoprotein of fibroblasts, is absent from differentiated cartilage matrix and chondrocytes in situ. However, dissociation of embryonic chick sternal cartilage with collagenase and trypsin, followed by inoculation in vitro reinitiates fibronectin synthesis by chondrocytes. Immunofluorescence microscopy with antibodies prepared against plasma fibronectin (cold insoluble globulin [CIG]) reveals fibronectin associated with the chondrocyte surface. Synthesis and secretion of fibronectin into the medium are shown by anabolic labeling with [35S]methionine or [3H]glycine, and identification of the secreted proteins by immunoprecipitation and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-disc gel electrophoresis. When chondrocytes are plated onto tissue culture dishes, the pattern of surface-associated fibronectin changes from a patchy into a strandlike appearance. Where epithelioid clones of polygonal chondrocytes develop, only short strands of fibronectin appear preferentially at cellular interfaces. This pattern is observed as long as cells continue to produce type II collagen that fails to precipitate as extracellular collagen fibers for some time in culture. Using the immunofluorescence double-labeling technique, we demonstrate that fibroblasts as well as chondrocytes which synthesize type I collagen and deposit this collagen as extracellular fibers show a different pattern of extracellular fibronectin that codistributes in large parts with collagen fibers. Where chondrocytes begin to accumulate extracellular cartilage matrix, fibronectin strands disappear. From these observations, we conclude (a) that chondrocytes synthesize fibronectin only in the absence of extracellular cartilage matrix, and (b) that fibronectin forms only short intercellular "stitches" in the absence of extracellular collagen fibers in vitro.

Cartilage

Transformation of chicken chondrocytes by Rous sarcoma virus.

Chicken chondrocytes isolated from 11-day-old chicken vertebrate cartilage were transformed by Rous sarcoma virus ts LA24 of the Prague strain as well as by the wild-type Prague strain of Rous sarcoma virus. The morphology of chondrocytes transformed by Rous sarcoma virus ts LA 24 was dependent on the temperature, and the change was reversible. A similar but irreversible change in morphology was observed with chondrocytes transformed by wild-type virus. Hyaluronic acid production and deoxyglucose transport were markedly increased in the transformed chondrocytes. A marked increase of labeled acetate incorporation was observed with the transformed chondrocytes. In contrast to the normal chondrocytes, the labeled hyaluronic acid synthesized by the transformed chondrocytes was mostly released into the culture medium.

Animals

Enhanced cellular fibronectin accumulation in chondrocytes treated with vitamin A.

Chick sternal chondrocytes cultured at high cell density lack fibronectin as a surface protein, while vitamin A-treated chondrocytes contain it as the major cell surface protein. We investigated the mechanism of fibronectin accumulation under these conditions. Control chondrocytes synthesized nearly as much fibronectin as vitamin A-treated chondrocytes, but it was secreted primarily into culture medium. Althought the fibronectin of control chondrocytes was of a slightly lower apparent molecular weight than the fibronectin synthesized by the treated cells, it bound as effectively to the cell layer of both normal and treated cells. In contrast, the vitamin A-treated cultures were 2.7 fold more effective in binding fibronectin synthesized by either control or treated cells. Thus in chondrocytes, vitamin A appears to regulate the cellular accumulation of fibronectin by increasing the ability of the cell layer to bind fibronectin rather than by altering its synthesis or its adhesivity for the cell layer.

Animals

The influence of the degree of maturation of donor tissue on the reconstruction of elastic cartilage by isolated chondrocytes.

Chondrocytes isolated from auricular cartilage of 1-, 14-, 28- and 56-day-old rabbits were injected intrasmuscularly as auto- or allogeneic transplants, and the development of the reconstructed cartilage was compared to that of intact tissue. Chondrocytes in cartilage of 1- and 14-day-old rabbits (younger group) were relatively uniform in size. During further development in situ (28 and 56 days) central cells increased considerably and many of them became binucleated. Cartilage reconstructed by chondrocytes from the younger group of animals displayed regular arrangement of cells, i.e. smaller cells at the periphery and larger in the centre. Transplantation of chondrocytes from 28 or 56-day-old rabbits (older group) led to the reconstruction of cartilage with irregular distribution of cells, i.e. some large cells were located at its periphery, while in the centre smaller and larger cells were intermingled in a haphazard manner. Elastic fibres were scanty and thin in cartilage of 1-day-old animals, but their number and size increased with time and they displayed a characteristic pattern. Formation and maturation of these fibres proceeded in cartilage reconstructed by chondrocytes from the younger gorup of animals similarly as in the intact tissue. Chondrocytes from the older group of rabbits reconstructed cartilage in which the number of elastic fibres was reduced and their arrangement appeared irregular.

Age Factors

Maturation of rabbit auricular chondrocytes grown in vitro in monolayer culture.

Chondrocytes isolated from auricular cartilage of 7-day-old rabbits were grown in vitro until the onset of phase III, occurring after 10-14 population doublings (PD). The size of cells and their dry mass were measured at various PD levels. These data were compared with results of analogous measurements of chondrocytes freshly isolated from 28-day-old rabbits. Both in vivo, during cartilage growth, and in vitro, some of the chondrocytes increased considerably in size and acquired two nuclei. Chondrocytes cultured in vitro for 4 population doublings were still capable of depositing elastic fibers in culture and forming cartilage after intramuscular transplantation. After longer periods of cultivation the ability of cells to produce a cartilage matrix declined. It is suggested that the auricular chondrocytes may represent a convenient model for comparative studies of cell aging in culture and in vivo, owing to the simplicity of matching senescent cells arising in both these situations.

Age Factors

Chondroitin sulfate and electron lucent bodies in the pericellular rim about unshrunken hypertrophied chondrocytes of chick long bone.

Direct observation of unstained, 1 mm thick blocks of fresh epiphyseal cartilage from tibia of 15- and 18-day-old chick embryos revealed shrunken chondrocytes on its cut surfaces but unshrunken chondrocytes deep within the tissue blocks. The unshrunken hypertrophied chondrocytes are rimmed with refractile substance identified as chondroitin sulfate removable with hyaluronidase. This substance is stained metachromatically red with toluidine blue, and is stained with ruthenium red and with ruthenium red-OsO4. The latter, observed with the electron microscope, is present as an electron dense rim, specifically about the unshrunken, hypertrophied chondrocytes between the plasma membrane and lacunar wall. By rendering the chondroitin sulfate electron dense with RR-OsO4, electron lucent bodies (ELB) were revealed specifically about the hypertrophied chondrocytes. The ELB contain an electron dense core with radiating fibrils. The content and source of ELB, also found in the intercellular matrix, are not known. The 0.1% toluidine blue solution containing 0.2 M MgC12 or 0.4% NaCl or KCl stained juxtanuclear clusters of granules metachromatically red. The location of intracellular granules was believed to represent a cluster of Golgi-derived vesicles. The pericellular metachromatic, RR-OsO4-positive rim is believed to be an accumulation of externalized juxtanuclear metachromatic granules. The possibility that the ELB may also be externalized content of Golgi vesicles was entertained.

Animals

Bone formation in cartilage produced by transplanted epiphyseal chondrocytes.

Chondrocytes were isolated from rat epiphyseal cartilage, cultured in vitro, and exposed to exogenous tracers which accumulated in their lysosomes. The cells were then injected into the posterior tibial muscle of animals from the same outbred strain, where they reconstructed calcifying hyaline cartilage. The mineralization of the tissue was followed by ingrowth of blood capillaries from the host bed. Macrophage-like cells surrounding the vessels phagocytized degenerated chondrocytes and unmineralized matrix, whereas multinucleated chondroclasts removed some of the mineralized cartilage matrix. Mesenchyme-like cells accompanying the invading vessels attached to the remaining septa of calcified cartilage matrix and developed into osteoblasts depositing bone matrix on the surface of these septa. The apparent lack of inherent tracer labeling of the lysosomes in the different bone cells indicate that they were derived from the host. No signs of transformation of chondrocytes into bone cells were observed. When isolated rat epiphyseal chondrocytes were injected into the wall of the hamster cheek pouch, calcifying cartilage was reconstructed without signs of subsequent ossification. Transplantation of cartilage reconstructed in the hamster into the dorsal muscles of rats was, however, followed by formation of bone by a sequence analogous to that described above. Such an osteogenetic response was also obtained when the cartilage had been devitalized before transplantation. These experiments show that calcified cartilage, developing in or grafted into an intramuscular site, is able to induce and serve as a substrate for endochondral bone formation, similar to that occurring during normal development. They further indicate that bone induction by calcified cartilage does not require the presence of living chondrocytes.

Animals

Ultrastructural localization of alkaline phosphatase in the hypertrophic chondrocyte of the frog.

The ultrastructural localization of alkaline phosphatase was studied in the hypertrophic chondrocyte of the frog (Rana temporaria) by incubating sections of glutaraldehyde fixed tissue in a medium containing sodium beta glycerophosphate and calcium chloride. Control specimens were incubated in substrate free medium. Alkaline phosphatase (orthophosphoric monoester phosphohydrolase) is a high molecular weight glycoprotein that hydrolyses phosphorylated metabolites much as acid phosphatase does except that its action is optimal at an alkaline pH. The results of this investigation showed that alkaline phosphatase activity was present within the cytoplasm and around the plasma membrane of frog hypertrophic chondrocytes. Although only a small proportion of frog hypertrophic chondrocytes demonstrated enzyme activity, there was evidence that this was concentrated within Golgi lamellae and vesicles leaving other organelles unreactive. The finding of alkaline phosphatase activity within Golgi lamellae of hypertrophic chondrocytes is regarded as unusual although postitive reactions within chondrocyte lysosomes have previously been reported (Doty and Schofield, 1976).

Alkaline Phosphatase

Cellular transformation and differentiation. Effect of Rous sarcoma virus transformation on sulfated proteoglycan synthesis by chicken chondrocytes.

Incorporation of sulfate into sulfated proteoglycans by isolated chicken chondrocytes was inhibited up to 74% by transformation with the Rous sarcoma virus, and a similar inhibitory effect was observed on acetate incorporation into chondroitin sulfate. Slower sedimenting sulfated proteoglycans appear after the viral transformation. The ratio of chondroitin 4-sulfate to chondroitin 6-sulfate in these slower sedimenting sulfated proteoglycans was different from that of normal chondrocytes, but the chain lengths of sulfated glycosaminoglycans produced by normal chondrocytes and transformed chondrocytes were not significantly different. Chondrocytes were also infected with a temperature-sensitive mutant of RSV, ts LA24, which has a temperature-sensitive lesion in the transforming gene. Hyaluronic acid production by these cells was increased, and the slower sedimenting sulfated proteoglycan was produced only at the permissive temperature.

Acetates

Enhancement of [3H-methyl]thymidine incorporation and replication of rat chondrocytes grown in tissue culture by plasma, tissue extracts and vasopressin.

A pituitary mitogenic peptide, which stimulates cellular replication of a variety of cells maintained in tissue culture, has been identified by other investigators. To study this mitogenic substance, we developed an assay to measure mitogenic substances utilizing fetal rat chondrocytes grown in monolayer culture. Mitogenic activity of added test substances was determined by [3H-methyl]thymidine incorporation into trichloroacetic acid insoluble cell products and increase in total cell number after 24 h exposure. Extracts of whole pituitary glands were more potent in stimulating these cellular indices than either those of liver or muscle, confirming that the chondrocytes are sensitive to the described mitogen. Identically prepared extracts of either anterior or posterior pituitary lobes were mitogenic indicating the presence of two or more mitogenic substances in crude pituitary extracts. Synthetic lysine vasopressin and a beef pitressin concentrate stimulated thymidine incorporation into chondrocytes in the absence of calf serum and this effect was additive to that of calf serum, suggesting that the mitogenic substance of posterior pituitary extracts was vasopressin. The maximum effective dose of vasopressin leading to an increase in either thymidine incorporation or total cell number was between 100 to 500 pg/ml, and as little as 50 pg/ml of hormone elicited an increase in total cell number. The mitogenic effect of both vasopressin and calf serum on chondrocytes was partially inhibited by 1 X 10(-4)M N, O'dibutryl cyclic adenosine 3',5' monophosphate suggesting that cell division of chrondrocytes may be under tonic control by the andenylyl cyclase system. We conclude that vasopressin is a potent mitogen for chondrocytes maintained in tissue culture and its presence must be rigorously excluded in evaluating mitogenic activity of pituitary or serum concentrates.

Animals

Shedding of hyaluronate from the cell surface of Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chondrocytes.

Transformation of cultured chick embryo chondrocytes with Rous sarcoma virus gives rise to increased incorporation of isotopic precursors into hyaluronate and decreased incorporation into chondroitin 6-sulfate. Chemical measurements of these glycosaminoglycans showed corresponding changes. Comparison of the kinetics of production of glycosaminoglycan by normal and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chondrocytes demonstrated (i) that the rate of accumulation in the medium was similar in both cultures, and (ii) that approximately 50% of total glycosaminoglycan produced by the normal chondrocytes, but only 10% of that from the transformed cells, accumulated in the cell layer. Prelabel-chase experiments indicated that cell surface-associated hyaluronate, as measured by release from the cell layer by trypsin treatment, was shed rapidly into the medium and accounted for all of the hyaluronate which accumulated in the medium. Thus we conclude (i) that accumulation of cell surface-associated glycosaminoglycan is dramatically reduced in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chondrocytes, and (ii) that hyaluronate produced by the transformed chondrocytes is first deposited in the cell-associated extracellular compartment and then rapidly shed into the medium, rather than being secreted directly into the medium.

Animals

Cilia of neonatal articular chondrocytes: incidence and morphology.

Cilia in neonatal canine articular chondrocytes were studied using morphometric techniques and transmission electron microscopy. The cilia in chondrocytes were morphologically similar to cilia in a variety of other cell types. A chondrocytic cilium consisted of a basal body and a ciliary shaft. The cylindrical basal body was 0.21 micron (S.D. = 0.01 micron) in diameter, 0.50 micron (S.D. = 0.03 micron) in length and contained nine microtubular triplets. The ciliary shaft was 0.196 micron (S.D. = 0.02 micron) in diameter and 1.76 micron (S.D. = 0.80 micron) in length. The number of microbtubular doublets in the ciliary shaft varied depending on where along the length of the shaft the section was taken. This study demonstrates that on the average the frequency of cilia in neonatal articular chondrocytes, as estimated sterologically, was about one cilium per cell.

Animals

Correlation of freeze-fracture and scanning electron microscopy of epiphyseal chondrocytes.

Chondrocytes in epiphyseal cartilage were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using freeze-fracture techniques. Freeze-fracture replicas showed large numbers of fingerlike, 0.11-0.15 micrometer diameter, projections from the chondrocyte surface, with numerous 95-180 A diameter intramembranous particles associated with both the cell membrane surface and these projections. With SEM, these cytoplasmic projections were also obvious, but appeared collapsed into clusters of globular-shaped projections on the surface of the chondrocytes. With freeze-fracture techniques, in which shrinkage artifacts were essentially eliminated, the cytoplasmic projections were often seen in intimate contact with the extracapsular matrix. However, with chondrocytes prepared by both SEM and conventional TEM, there was evidence of shrinkage, the cytoplasmic projections having little contact with the extracapsular matrix. These findings show that the cytoplasmic processes are not artifacts of tissue processing and provide morphological evidence in support of the hypothesis that matrix vesicles are of cellular origin.

Animals

The progeny of rabbit articular chondrocytes synthesize collagen types I and III and type I trimer, but not type II. Verifications by cyanogen bromide peptide analysis.

The radioactive collagens synthesized by the fourth subculture progeny of rabbit articular chondrocytes were extracted and purified after limited pepsin digestion by neutral and acid salt precipitation. In order to identify the different types of collagen present, denatured collagen chains were fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on 5% gels, electrophoretically eluted, and cleaved with cyanogen bromide, and the resultant peptides were fractionated by a new sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis system (tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-borate buffer, 15% gels). Comparison of these separate peptide profiles with those from alpha1(I) and alpha1(III) collagen chains permitted the unambiguous identification of these chains in the radioactive collagen synthesized by chondrocytes. Although cartilage slices predominantly synthesized alpha1(II) chains, only alpha1(I) chains were made by cells in fourth subculture. A large fraction of these alpha1(I) chains could not be accounted for by the presence of type I collagen. While in a native, triple-helical conformation, some of these extra alpha1(I) chains were completely separated from type I collagen by their solubility at pH 8.0 in 2.6 M NaCl and therefore identified as [alpha1(I)]3, type I trimer. In addition to type I collagen and type I trimer, these chondrocyte progeny also synthesized type III collagen and two new collagen chains, X and Y. Each collagen type was further characterized by carboxymethylcellulose chromatography and its distribution between the medium and the cell layer. These findings support the idea that cultured chondrocytes assume a collagen phenotype similar to that of their undifferentiated mesenchymal cell precursors.

Animals