Zonal rate centrifugation of proteoglycans in sucrose gradients

A novel two-step method for the formation of tissue-engineered cartilage by mature bovine chondrocytes: the alginate-recovered-chondrocyte (ARC) method

Most attempts to tissue-engineer cartilage have involved seeding of cultured cells into a biological or synthetic scaffold. We have developed a novel two-step culture approach that makes possible the in vitro formation of cartilaginous-like tissue by mature adult bovine chondrocytes without the aid of a synthetic matrix. The first step consists of culturing chondrocytes under conditions that maintain their rounded shape and their molecular phenotype as assessed by type II collagen and aggrecan production. This step was accomplished by culturing the isolated chondrocytes in alginate beads until the cells have reestablished a proteoglycan-rich cell-associated matrix (CM). The second step consists of culturing the cells with their CM, after recovery from the beads, on a tissue culture insert with a porous membrane. In this study, young adult bovine articular chondrocytes were cultured in alginate beads in the presence of 10% or 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS). After 7 days of culture, the alginate beads were dissolved by incubating the beads for 20 min in sodium citrate buffer, a calcium chelator. Following a brief centrifugation, the cells with their CM were recovered, resuspended in medium containing 10% or 20% FBS and seeded onto a tissue culture insert. After 1 week of culture on the insert, the individual cells with their CM progressively became incorporated into a mass of cartilaginous tissue. Culture with 20% FBS resulted in the best formation of tissues. These tissues, easily recovered from the insert, were then subjected to biochemical and histological analyses. The biochemical results showed that the chondrocytes remain phenotypically stable in the tissues. The de novo tissue has a relatively high ratio of PG/collagen. Histological examination of the tissue revealed it contained a cartilage-like matrix strongly stained with toluidine blue. This scaffold-free system appears ideal to study, in vitro, the development of transplantable cartilaginous tissue.

Size heterogeneity of human cervical mucus glycoproteins. Studies performed with rate-zonal centrifugation and laser light-scattering

Mucus glycoproteins (mucins) from cervical pregnancy mucus were fractionated by using rate-zonal centrifugation in a gradient of guanidinium chloride. The distribution of the macromolecules, as assessed by using sialic acid determination, suggested the presence of three populations of different size. Individual fractions were subjected to laser light-scattering performed as total-intensity measurements as well as photon correlation spectroscopy. The results showed that points of inflexion were present in the distribution of both Mr and DT (translational diffusion coefficient) and that the three populations have Mr values of approx. 24 X 10(6), 16 X 10(6) and 6 X 10(6) respectively. The weight-average Mr for the whole distribution, as calculated from the values obtained for the individual fractions, was 13.6 X 10(6), which is in good agreement with that found for the unfractionated material (11.1 X 10(6]. Plots of log RG (radius of gyration) and log (1/DT) versus log Mr are in keeping with the macromolecules being linear flexible chains.

Stereological studies on the epiphyseal growth cartilage and characterization of costal cartilage proteoglycans in the achondroplastic (cn/cn) mouse

The achondroplastic mouse is a dwarf mouse in which the endochondral growth of the skeleton is disturbed. The main morphological characteristic of the affected growth cartilage is an underdeveloped hypertrophic zone. The pattern of matrix mineralization seems to be unaffected, even in areas where hypertrophic chondrocytes are completely absent. The present stereological results indicate a disturbance of the cn/cn cartilage already in the proliferative zone. At the electron microscopical level a clearly abnormal spatial distribution of matrix vesicles was observed in the affected growth cartilage. The vesicle concentration of the cn/cn cartilage was increased, but the mineralizing cartilage showed a decrease of vesicles similar to that in the normal tissue. Parallel biochemical characterization of the proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans of the cn/cn costal cartilage revealed normal conditions, also in the growth region, which was sampled as a separate tissue fraction. Thus the biochemical results provide no evidence of disturbed glycosaminoglycan metabolism.

Gel electrophoresis of proteoglycan monomers of baboon articular cartilage separated by zonal rate centrifugation in sucrose gradients

Proteoglycan monomers from articular cartilage of young baboons and of a baboon foetus were submitted to zonal rate centrifugation in sucrose gradients. The peaks obtained were analyzed by gel electrophoresis on polyacrylamide-agarose gels. The proteoglycan monomers corresponding to the bands obtained by gel-electrophoresis of unfractionated proteoglycans were separated in the gradients and the sedimentation distance correlated with the electrophoretic mobility.

Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans in cartilage from the brachymorphic (bm/bm) mouse

The brachymorphic (bm/bm) mouse is a disproportionate dwarf with a disturbance of the endochondral growth of the skeleton. Rib cartilage from 25-day-old affected animals and their normal siblings was analyzed for its contents and composition of proteoglycans. In addition to the previously reported undersulfation of chondroitin sulfate, it was demonstrated that one of the two types of aggregating proteoglycan and possibly the small ones are decreased in bm/bm costal cartilage, both in the growth region and in the remaining part. The molecular defect of the bm/bm condition is known to affect the synthesis of 3-phosphoadenosine 5-phosphosulfate (Sugahara and Schwartz, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76: 6615-6618, 1979). The above finding therefore suggests the existence of feedback mechanisms for the regulation of proteoglycan synthesis, whereby the undersulfation of glycosaminoglycans would result in decreased synthesis or increased turnover of certain proteoglycan subpopulations. Analysis of the glycosaminoglycan side chains indicated that mouse rib cartilage contains small amounts of keratan sulfate of extremely small size. The affected and control tissues, however, seemed to contain equal amounts of both glucosamine and galactosamine.

Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans of normal and strontium rachitic epiphyseal cartilage

An analytical protocol for the analysis of proteoglycans and proteins extracted from small sections of cartilage has been applied to the upper and lower parts of the epiphyseal growth plate of normal rats and rats with strontium-induced rickets. Only one polydisperse proteoglycan population was found in each of the four tissue portions. In strontium-induced rachitic animals the aggregability of proteoglycan monomers with hyaluronate was considerably increased in the lower part of the growth plate. The proteoglycans in the upper portion of the epiphysis contained somewhat less of chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate both in normal and strontium-induced rachitic rats. The chondroitin sulfate chains were somewhat larger in samples from strontium-induced rachitic rats compared with controls while in all groups about 90 per cent of the galactosamine in chondroitin sulfate was sulfated at position four. The findings of an altered composition of proteoglycans in strontium-induced rickets demonstrate that strontium not only prevents the mineral growth but may also induce the chondrocytes to produce a matrix with a different macromolecular composition.

Separation and characterization of two populations of aggregating proteoglycans from cartilage

Intermediary gel immunoelectrophoresis was used to show that purified aggregating cartilage proteoglycans from 2-year-old steers contain two distinct populations of molecules and that only one of these is immunologically related to non-aggregating cartilage proteoglycans. The two types of aggregating proteoglycans were purified by density-gradient centrifugation in 3.5M-CsCl/4M-guanidinium chloride and separated by zonal rate centrifugation in sucrose gradients. The higher-buoyant-density faster-sedimenting proteoglycan represented 43% of the proteoglycans in the extract. It had a weight-average Mr of 3.5 X 10(6), did not contain a well-defined keratan sulphate-rich region, had a quantitatively dominant chondroitin sulphate-rich region and contained 5.9% protein and 23% hexosamine. The lower-buoyant-density, more slowly sedimenting, proteoglycan represented 15% of the proteoglycans in the extract. It had a weight-average Mr of 1.3 X 10(6), contained both the keratan sulphate-rich and the chondroitin sulphate-rich regions and contained 7.3% protein and 23% hexosamine. Each of the proteoglycan preparations showed only one band on agarose/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. The larger proteoglycan had a lower mobility than the smaller. The distribution of chondroitin sulphate chains along the chondroitin sulphate-rich region was similar for the two types of proteoglycans. The somewhat larger chondroitin sulphate chains of the larger proteoglycan could not alone account for the larger size of the proteoglycan. Peptide patterns after trypsin digestion of the proteoglycans showed great similarities, although the presence of a few peptides not shared by both populations indicates that the core proteins are partially different.