Abstract
Human chondrocytes dedifferentiate when they grow in monolayer cultures and produce type I collagen. Re-differentiation is possible by culturing them in an agarose-gel. To characterize the modulated cells in more detail, ultrastructural and biochemical studies were performed in chondrocytes suspended in agarose for 2 weeks. It was shown that their ultrastructural characteristics were indistinguishable from those in tissue cells. Glycosaminoglcan (GAG) composition, electrophoretic mobility and hydrodynamic size of proteoglycans were identical in tissue and in cultured cells.
Chondrocytes from a patient with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita showed characteristic ultrastructural abnormalities both in biopsied cartilage and in cultured cells, most notably a dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum containing fine granular material. Proteoglycans produced by cultured cells contained abnormally high amounts of dermatan sulfate. The GAG chains were shorter than tose produced by normal cells. It remains to be established how these abnormalities are related to defects in collagen type II production that have been shown to exist in spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita.
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Beck, M., Becker, K. & Spranger, J. SPONDYLOEPIPHYSEAL DYSPLASIA CONGENITA: MORPHOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES IN CULTURED CHONDROCYTES. Pediatr Res 26, 515 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198911000-00093
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198911000-00093