Abstract
Cartilage is a tissue with only limited reparative capacities. A small part of its volume is composed of cells,
the remaining part being the hydrated extracellular matrix (ECM) with collagens and proteoglycans as its
main constituents. The functioning of cartilage depends heavily on its ECM. Although it is known that the
various (fibro)cartilaginous tissues (articular cartilage, annulus fibrosus, nucleus pulposus, and meniscus)
differ from one each other with respect to their molecular make-up, remarkable little quantitative
information is available with respect to its biochemical constituents, such as collagen content, or the various
posttranslational modifications of collagen. Furthermore, we have noticed that tissue-engineering strategies
to replace cartilaginous tissues pay in general little attention to the biochemical differences of the tissues or
the phenotypical differences of the (fibro)chondrocytes under consideration. The goal of this paper is
therefore to provide quantitative biochemical data from these tissues as a reference for further studies. We
have chosen the goat as the source of these tissues, as this animal is widely accepted as an animal model in
orthopaedic studies, e.g. in the field of cartilage degeneration and tissue engineering. Furthermore, we
provide data on mRNA levels (from genes encoding proteins/enzymes involved in the synthesis and
degradation of the ECM) from (fibro)chondrocytes that are freshly isolated from these tissues and from the
same (fibro)chondrocytes that are cultured for 18 days in alginate beads. Expression levels of genes involved
in the cross-linking of collagen were different between cells isolated from various cartilaginous tissues. This
opens the possibility to include more markers than the commonly used chondrogenic markers type II
collagen and aggrecan for cartilage tissue-engineering applications.
the remaining part being the hydrated extracellular matrix (ECM) with collagens and proteoglycans as its
main constituents. The functioning of cartilage depends heavily on its ECM. Although it is known that the
various (fibro)cartilaginous tissues (articular cartilage, annulus fibrosus, nucleus pulposus, and meniscus)
differ from one each other with respect to their molecular make-up, remarkable little quantitative
information is available with respect to its biochemical constituents, such as collagen content, or the various
posttranslational modifications of collagen. Furthermore, we have noticed that tissue-engineering strategies
to replace cartilaginous tissues pay in general little attention to the biochemical differences of the tissues or
the phenotypical differences of the (fibro)chondrocytes under consideration. The goal of this paper is
therefore to provide quantitative biochemical data from these tissues as a reference for further studies. We
have chosen the goat as the source of these tissues, as this animal is widely accepted as an animal model in
orthopaedic studies, e.g. in the field of cartilage degeneration and tissue engineering. Furthermore, we
provide data on mRNA levels (from genes encoding proteins/enzymes involved in the synthesis and
degradation of the ECM) from (fibro)chondrocytes that are freshly isolated from these tissues and from the
same (fibro)chondrocytes that are cultured for 18 days in alginate beads. Expression levels of genes involved
in the cross-linking of collagen were different between cells isolated from various cartilaginous tissues. This
opens the possibility to include more markers than the commonly used chondrogenic markers type II
collagen and aggrecan for cartilage tissue-engineering applications.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 209-218 |
| Journal | Matrix Biology |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |