Col2-GFP reporter mouse?A new tool to study skeletal development

A Transgenic Rat for Noninvasive Assessment of Chondrogenesis in Vivo

OBJECTIVE

To support the preclinical evaluation of therapeutics that target chondrogenesis, our goal was to generate a rat strain that can noninvasively report endogenous chondrogenic activity.

DESIGN

A transgene was constructed in which the dual expression of bioluminescent (firefly luciferase) and fluorescent (mCherry) reporters is controlled by regulatory sequences from rat Col2a1. Candidate lines were established on a Lewis background and characterized by serial bioluminescence imaging as well as ex vivo measurement of molecular reporter levels in several tissues. The sensitivity and specificity of the reporter strain were assessed in models of orthotopic and ectopic chondrogenesis.

RESULTS

Substantial bioluminescence signal was detected from cartilaginous regions, including the appendicular synovial joints, spine, sternum, nose, and pinnae. Bioluminescent radiance was intense at 1 month of age, rapidly declined with continued development, yet remained detectable in 2-year-old animals. Explant imaging and immunohistochemistry confirmed that both molecular reporters were localized to cartilage. Implantation of wild-type bone marrow stromal cells into osteochondral defects made in both young adult and aged reporter rats led to a time-dependent elevation of intra-articular reporter activity concurrent with cartilaginous tissue repair. To stimulate ectopic, endochondral bone formation, bone morphogenetic protein 2 was overexpressed in the gastrocnemius muscle, which led to bioluminescent signal that closely preceded heterotopic ossification.

CONCLUSIONS

This strain can help develop strategies to stimulate cartilage repair and endochondral bone formation or to inhibit chondrogenesis associated with heterotopic ossification.

Limb derived cells as a paradigm for engineering self-assembling skeletal tissues

Mimicking developmental events has been proposed as a strategy to engineer tissue constructs for regenerative medicine. However, this approach has not yet been investigated for skeletal tissues. Here, it is demonstrated that ectopic implantation of day-14.5 mouse embryonic long bone anlagen, dissociated into single cells and randomly incorporated in a bioengineered construct, gives rise to epiphyseal growth plate-like structures, bone and marrow, which share many morphological and molecular similarities to epiphyseal units that form after transplanting intact long bone anlage, demonstrating substantial robustness and autonomy of complex tissue self-assembly and the overall organogenesis process. In vitro studies confirm the self-aggregation and patterning capacity of anlage cells and demonstrate that the model can be used to evaluate the effects of large and small molecules on biological behaviour. These results reveal the preservation of self-organizing and self-patterning capacity of anlage cells even when disconnected from their developmental niche and subjected to system perturbations such as cellular dissociation. These inherent features make long bone anlage cells attractive as a model system for tissue engineering technologies aimed at creating constructs that have the potential to self-assemble and self-pattern complex architectural structures.

Pitx1 determines characteristic hindlimb morphologies in cartilage micromass culture

The shapes of homologous skeletal elements in the vertebrate forelimb and hindlimb are distinct, with each element exquisitely adapted to their divergent functions. Many of the signals and signalling pathways responsible for patterning the developing limb bud are common to both forelimb and hindlimb. How disparate morphologies are generated from common signalling inputs during limb development remains poorly understood. We show that, similar to what has been shown in the chick, characteristic differences in mouse forelimb and hindlimb cartilage morphology are maintained when chondrogenesis proceeds in vitro away from the endogenous limb bud environment. Chondrogenic nodules that form in high-density micromass cultures derived from forelimb and hindlimb buds are consistently different in size and shape. We described analytical tools we have developed to quantify these differences in nodule morphology and demonstrate that characteristic hindlimb nodule morphology is lost in the absence of the hindlimb-restricted limb modifier gene Pitx1. Furthermore, we show that ectopic expression of Pitx1 in the forelimb is sufficient to generate nodule patterns characteristic of the hindlimb. We also demonstrate that hindlimb cells are less adhesive to the tissue culture substrate and, within the limb environment, to the extracellular matrix and to each other. These results reveal autonomously programmed differences in forelimb and hindlimb cartilage precursors of the limb skeleton are controlled, at least in part, by Pitx1 and suggest this has an important role in generating distinct limb-type morphologies. Our results demonstrate that the micromass culture system is ideally suited to study cues governing morphogenesis of limb skeletal elements in a simple and experimentally tractable in vitro system that reflects in vivo potential.

Nondestructive Techniques to Evaluate the Characteristics and Development of Engineered Cartilage

In this review, methods for evaluating the properties of tissue engineered (TE) cartilage are described. Many of these have been developed for evaluating properties of native and osteoarthritic articular cartilage. However, with the increasing interest in engineering cartilage, specialized methods are needed for nondestructive evaluation of tissue while it is developing and after it is implanted. Such methods are needed, in part, due to the large inter- and intra-donor variability in the performance of the cellular component of the tissue, which remains a barrier to delivering reliable TE cartilage for implantation. Using conventional destructive tests, such variability makes it near-impossible to predict the timing and outcome of the tissue engineering process at the level of a specific piece of engineered tissue and also makes it difficult to assess the impact of changing tissue engineering regimens. While it is clear that the true test of engineered cartilage is its performance after it is implanted, correlation of pre and post implantation properties determined non-destructively in vitro and/or in vivo with performance should lead to predictive methods to improve quality-control and to minimize the chances of implanting inferior tissue.

Mechanisms of aberrant organization of growth plates in conditional transgenic mouse model of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia associated with the R992C substitution in collagen II

Mutations in collagen II, a main structural protein of cartilage, are associated with various forms of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia (SED), whose main features include aberrations of linear growth. Here, we analyzed the pathomechanisms responsible for growth alterations in transgenic mice with conditional expression of the R992C collagen II mutation. Specifically, we studied the alterations of the growth plates of mutant mice in which chondrocytes lacked their typical columnar arrangement. Our studies demonstrated that chondrocytes expressing the thermolabile R992C mutant collagen II molecules endured endoplasmic reticulum stress, had atypical polarization, and had reduced proliferation. Moreover, we demonstrated aberrant organization and morphology of primary cilia. Analyses of the extracellular collagenous deposits in mice expressing the R992C mutant collagen II molecules indicated their poor formation and distribution. By contrast, transgenic mice expressing wild-type collagen II and mice in which the expression of the transgene encoding the R992C collagen II was switched off were characterized by normal growth, and the morphology of their growth plates was correct. Our study with the use of a conditional mouse SED model not only indicates a direct relation between the observed aberration of skeletal tissues and the presence of mutant collagen II, but also identifies cellular and matrix elements of the pathomechanism of SED.

Screening of chondrogenic factors with a real-time fluorescence-monitoring cell line ATDC5-C2ER: identification of sorting nexin 19 as a novel factor

OBJECTIVE

To establish a cell culture system for noninvasive and real-time monitoring of chondrogenic differentiation in order to screen for chondrogenic factors.

METHODS

The optimum reporter construct transfected into chondrogenic ATDC5 cells was selected by a luciferase reporter assay and fluorescence analysis during cultures with insulin. The established cell line was validated according to its fluorescence following stimulation with SOX proteins, bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), or transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) and was compared with the level of messenger RNA for COL2A1 as well as with the degree of Alcian blue staining. Screening of chondrogenic factors was performed by expression cloning using a retroviral expression library prepared from human tracheal cartilage. The expression pattern of the identified molecule was examined by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Functional analysis was performed by transfection of the identified gene, the small interfering RNA, and the mutated gene.

RESULTS

We established an ATDC5 cell line with 4 repeats of a highly conserved enhancer ligated to a COL2A1 basal promoter and the DsRed2 reporter (ATDC5-C2ER). Fluorescence was induced under the stimulations with SOX proteins, BMP-2, or TGFbeta, showing good correspondence to the chondrogenic markers. Screening using the ATDC5-C2ER system identified several chondrogenic factors, including sorting nexin 19 (SNX19). SNX19 was expressed in the limb cartilage of mouse embryos and in the degraded cartilage of adult mouse knee joints during osteoarthritis progression. The gain-of-function and loss-of-function analyses revealed a potent chondrogenic activity of SNX19.

CONCLUSION

We established the ATDC5-C2ER system for efficient monitoring of chondrogenic differentiation by fluorescence analysis, and we identified a novel chondrogenic factor (SNX19) using this system. This system will be useful for elucidating the molecular network of chondrogenic differentiation.

Fluorescent protein markers to tag collagenous proteins: the paradigm of procollagen VII

Fluorescent proteins are powerful markers allowing tracking expression, intracellular localization, and translocation of tagged proteins but their effects on the structure and assembly of complex extracellular matrix proteins has not been investigated. Here, we analyzed the utility of fluorescent proteins as markers for procollagen VII, a triple-helical protein critical for the integrity of dermal-epidermal junction. DNA constructs encoding a red fluorescent protein-tagged wild type mini-procollagen VII alpha chain and green fluorescent protein-tagged alpha chains harboring selected mutations were genetically engineered. These DNA constructs were co-expressed in HEK-293 cells and the assembly of heterogeneous triple-helical mini-procollagen VII molecules was analyzed. Immunoprecipitation and fluorescence resonance energy transfer assays demonstrated that the presence of different fluorescent protein markers at the C-termini of individual alpha chains neither altered formation of triple-helical molecules nor affected their secretion to the extracellular space. Our study provides a basis for employing fluorescent proteins as tags for complex structural proteins of extracellular matrix.

Fibroblast growth factor 18 gives growth and directional cues to airway cartilage

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS

The majority of congenital airway anomalies arise from deficits in the respiratory tract cartilage, emphasizing the importance of this cartilage to the form and function of the upper airway. The primary objective of this study was to characterize molecular mechanisms that regulate rate and direction of chondrocyte growth in the larynx and trachea. Our hypothesis for this study was that fibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF18) provides proliferative and directional cues to the developing laryngeal and tracheal cartilage in the mouse by up-regulating the cartilage-specifying gene, Sox9.

STUDY DESIGN

Molecular genetic and histological analyses of gene expression and cartilage growth in a mouse model.

METHODS

Controlled mating of wild-type FVB/N (Friend Virus B-type/NIH mouse) mice and FGF18 overexpressing mice were carried out, and embryos ranging from embryonic (E) day 10.5 to E18.5 were obtained. The respiratory tract, including the larynx, trachea, and lung, was removed through meticulous dissection, and subjected to whole-mount in situ hybridization with RNA probes, or was sectioned and subjected to immunohistochemistry. Respiratory tracts from FVB/N mice were grown in culture in the presence of exogenous FGF18 or known inhibitors of the FGF pathway, and then subjected to quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to measure the expression of cartilage-specific genes.

RESULTS

The upper respiratory tract begins as a simple out-pouching from the ventral foregut endoderm at E10.5. The chondrocytes that form the cartilaginous structures of the upper respiratory tract are located at the junction of the respiratory tract out-pouching and the ventral foregut endoderm. This population of chondrocytes then undergoes directional proliferation to eventually assume the mature three-dimensional configuration of the upper respiratory tract cartilaginous framework. Immunohistochemical localization of extracellular signal-regulated kinases, a known modulator of FGF signaling, demonstrated the presence of this enzyme at the periphery of growing cartilage. Explants of larynx-trachea-lung grown in culture with exogenous FGF18 demonstrated hyperplastic growth and directed growth towards the FGF18 source. Finally, both FGF18 overexpressing tracheas and tracheas cultured with exogenous FGF18 demonstrated increased expression of the cartilage-specifying gene, Sox9.

CONCLUSIONS

FGF18 provided both directional and proliferative cues to chondrocytes in the developing upper respiratory tract. FGF18 exerted this effect on developing chondrocytes by up-regulating Sox9 expression. Laryngoscope, 2009.

Pitx1 determines the morphology of muscle, tendon, and bones of the hindlimb

The vertebrate forelimb and hindlimb are serially homologous structures; however, their distinctive morphologies suggest that different mechanisms are associated with each limb type to give rise to limb-type identity. Three genes have been implicated in this process; T-box transcription factors Tbx5 and Tbx4, which are expressed in the forelimb and hindlimb, respectively, and a paired-type homeodomain transcription factor Pitx1, expressed in the hindlimb. To explore the roles of Pitx1 and Tbx4 in patterning the hindlimb, we have ectopically misexpressed these genes in the mouse forelimb using transgenic methods. We have developed a novel technique for visualising the structure and organisation of tissues in limbs in 3D using optical projection tomography (OPT). This approach provides unparalleled access to understanding the relationships between connective tissues during development of the limb. Misexpression of Pitx1 in the forelimb results in the transformation and translocation of specific muscles, tendons, and bones of the forelimb so that they acquire a hindlimb-like morphology. Pitx1 also upregulates hindlimb-specific factors in the forelimb, including Hoxc10 and Tbx4. In contrast, misexpression of Tbx4 in the forelimb does not result in a transformation of limb-type morphology. These results demonstrate that Pitx1, but not Tbx4, determines the morphological identity of hindlimb tissues.

In vivo delivery of fluoresceinated dextrans to the murine growth plate: imaging of three vascular routes by multiphoton microscopy

Bone elongation by endochondral ossification occurs through the differentiation cascade of chondrocytes of cartilaginous growth plates. Molecules from the systemic vasculature reach the growth plate from three different directions: epiphyseal, metaphyseal, and a ring vessel and plexus associated with the perichondrium. This study is an analysis of the real-time dynamics of entrance of fluoresceinated tracers of different molecular weights into the growth plate from the systemic vasculature and tests the hypothesis that molecular weight is a key variable in the determination of both the directionality and the extent of tracer movement into the growth plate. Multiphoton microscopy was used for direct in vivo imaging of the murine proximal tibial growth plate in anesthetized 4- to 5-week-old transgenic mice with green fluorescent protein linked to the collagen II promoter. Mice were given an intracardiac injection of either fluorescein (332.3 Da) or fluoresceinated dextrans of 3, 10, 40, 70 kDa, singly or sequentially. For each tracer, directionality and rate of arrival, together with extent of movement within the growth plate, were imaged in real time. For small molecules (up to 10 kDa), vascular access from all three directions was observed and entrance was equally permissive from the metaphyseal and the epiphyseal sides. Within our detection limit (a few percent of vascular concentration), 40 kDa and larger dextrans did not enter. These results have implications both for understanding systemic and paracrine regulation of growth plate chondrocytic differentiation, as well as variables associated with effective drug delivery to growth plate chondrocytes.

Secretion of Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein Is Affected by the Signal Peptide

Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is a secreted glycoprotein found in the extracellular matrices of skeletal tissues. Mutations associated with two human skeletal dysplasias, pseudoachondroplasia and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, disturb COMP secretion leading to intracellular accumulation of mutant COMP, especially in chondrocytes. Here we show that the manifestation of this secretory defect is dramatically influenced by the signal peptide that targets COMP for secretion. The comparison of wild type and mutant COMP secretion directed by the COMP or BM40 signal peptide in HEK-293 cells and rat chondrosarcoma cells revealed that the BM40 signal peptide substantially enhances secretion of mutant COMP that accumulates in endoplasmic reticulum-like structures when targeted by its own signal peptide. Additionally, we demonstrate that mutant COMP forms mixed pentamers with wild type COMP. Our findings suggest that the secretory defect in pseudoachondroplasia and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia is not specific for chondrocytes, nor does it require interaction of mutant COMP with other matrix proteins prior to transport from the cell. They also imply a previously unappreciated role for the signal peptide in the regulation of protein secretion beyond targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum.

Confocal fluorescence spectroscopy of subcutaneous cartilage expressing green fluorescent protein versus cutaneous collagen autofluorescence

Optically monitoring the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the cartilage underlying the skin of a mouse allows tracking the expression of the chondrocyte phenotype. This paper considers how confocal microscopy with spectral detection can sense GFP fluorescence in the cartilage despite light scattering and collagen autofluorescence from the overlying skin. An in vivo experiment tested the abilities of a topical optical fiber measurement and a confocal microscope measurement to detect GFP in cartilage under the skin versus the collagen autofluorescence. An ex vivo experiment tested the ability of a confocal microscope without and with its pinhole to detect a fluorescent microsphere underneath an ex vivo skin layer versus the collagen autofluorescence. In both systems, spectroscopic detection followed by linear analysis allowed spectral discrimination of collagen autofluorescence (M(C)) and the subdermal green fluorescence (M(G)) due to either GFP or the microsphere. Contrast was defined as M(G)/(M(G)+M(C)). The in vivo contrast for GFP using optical fiber and confocal measurements was 0.16 and 0.92, respectively. The ex vivo contrast for a fluorescent microsphere using a confocal system without and with a pinhole was 0.13 and 0.48, respectively. The study demonstrates that a topical optical fiber measurement is affected by collagen autofluorescence, while a confocal microscope can detect subdermal fluorescence while rejecting collagen autofluorescence.