Glycosaminoglycans of cartilage and bone tissue in two cases of osteogenesis imperfecta congenita

Mineralized tissue protein profiles in the Australian form of bovine osteogenesis imperfecta

Noncollagenous proteins and proteoglycan from the bone and dentin of affected and normal half-siblings neonatal calves with the Australian variant of bovine osteogenesis imperfecta (BOI-A) were quantitated. In contrast to a clinically similar syndrome of BOI in the progeny of a second progenitor bull identified in Texas (BOI-T), osteonectin and bone sialoprotein levels were normal in the affected BOI-A bone, and dentin phosphophoryn levels were normal in affected BOI-A teeth. However, bone proteoglycan in the affected BOI-A calves was depleted to one-third of the level found in normal siblings, a finding qualitatively similar to the depletion of bone proteoglycan in the BOI-T syndrome. These results suggest that quantitation of noncollagenous proteins and proteoglycans may be a useful technique for differentiating clinically similar syndromes of OI in man.

Altered glycosaminoglycan production in cultured osteogenesis-imperfecta skin fibroblasts

Collagen and glycosaminoglycan syntheses were studied in skin fibroblasts cultured from patients with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and from age-matched controls. Collagen synthesis (measured as protein-bound [3H]hydroxyproline) was decreased in all four OI cell lines studied in the present experiments, comprising 16-24% of total protein synthesis (40% in normal cells). Hyaluronic acid production in OI skin fibroblasts per cell was higher than in age-matched controls, but the production of sulphated glycosaminoglycans was at the normal level. Thus the ratio of the hyaluronic acid and sulphated-glycosaminoglycan radioactivities was markedly higher in OI cultures than in control cultures, especially at the exponential phase of growth where the synthesis of hyaluronic acid was highest. Hyaluronic acid in OI had a normal molecular weight when determined by gel filtration on Sepharose 2B. The removal of high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid from the medium by hyaluronidase had no effect on the rate of collagen secretion in OI cell line 1 (A.T.C.C. 1262), in which the rate of collagen secretion was lowest.

Type I osteogenesis imperfecta: a nonfunctional allele for pro alpha 1 (I) chains of type I procollagen

Type I osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a dominantly inherited disease characterized clinically by bone fractures during childhood, blue sclerae, and frequent hearing loss accompanied by a decreased content of type I collagen in bone and skin. Cultured skin fibroblasts from three individuals affected with the disease produce half-normal levels of type I procollagen, a disulfide-bonded trimer that contains two pro alpha 1(I) chains and one pro alpha 2(I) chain. In normal cells, pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 2(I) are synthesized in a 2:1 ratio and only assembled molecules are secreted. In contrast, the OI cells contain equimolar amounts of pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 2(I), which suggests that trimer assembly and secretion are limited by the level of pro alpha 1(I) synthesis. The "extra" pro alpha 2(I) in the OI cells is in a nondisulfide-bonded configuration and is not secreted but apparently contributes to an increased level of intracellular degradation. Thus, decreased production of type I procollagen in these patients is the result of decreased synthesis of pro alpha 1(I). These results suggest that the stoichiometry of pro alpha chains in type I procollagen is determined by the conformation of the chains rather than the ratio in which they are synthesized, that molecules containing more than a single pro alpha 2(I) chain are not assembled, and that the production of this heteropolymeric molecule may be effectively regulated by controlling the synthesis of only one of the subunits.

Reduced secretion of structurally abnormal type I procollagen in a form of osteogenesis imperfecta

Osteogenesis imperfecta is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of inherited connective tissue disorders in which bone fragility is the predominant feature. Cultured dermal fibroblasts from one patient with the lethal perinatal form of osteogenesis imperfecta secrete type I procollagen at a rate half that of normal cells. Short-term labeling experiments and treatment with alpha,alpha'-dipyridyl (which prevents posttranslational prolyl and lysyl hydroxylation) demonstrated that these cells produce two distinct pro alpha 1(I) chains, which are synthesized at the same rate. Analysis of cyanogen bromide peptides indicated that the two chains differ in their primary structures. Thus, structural abnormalities in type I procollagen prevent this molecule from being secreted normally, resulting in an anomalously low ratio of type I procollagen to other extracellular matrix molecules. While the lethal perinatal form of osteogenesis imperfecta may be heterogeneous, we propose that the underlying pathogenesis of at least one form is decreased secretion of type I procollagen.