Effect of Cortisol on the Synthesis of Chondroitin Sulphate by Embryonic Cartilage

Abstract

CORTISOL, in low concentrations, profoundly affects the growth of the cartilaginous limb-bone rudiments from embryonic chicks, cultivated in a synthetic medium^1–4. One aspect of this effect is a decrease in the degree of hydration of the tissue and, because much of the bound water of cartilaginous tissues may be associated with mucopolysaccharide, it seemed possible that cortisol might be acting on the synthesis of the polysaccharide component of the intercellular matrix. This possibility was supported by the observation that rudiments cultivated in the presence of cortisol (2.1 × 10⁻⁷ M, or less) exhibit particularly intense toluidine blue staining³, although there are now several reports (reviewed by Dziewiatkowski⁵) of an inhibition of polysaccharide synthesis in connective tissue, with reduced metachromasia, by high levels (1−2 × 10⁻⁴ M) of cortisol. Whitehouse and Lash^6,7 have also described inhibition of sulphation without interruption of polysaccharide synthesis.