The Runx family of transcription factors supports cell fate determination, cell cycle regulation, global protein synthesis control, and genetic as well as epigenetic regulation of target genes. Runx1, which is essential for hematopoiesis; Runx2, which is required for osteoblast differentiation; and Runx3, which is involved in neurologic and gut development; are expressed in the growth plate dur...

PTHrP (parathyroid hormone-related protein) is crucial for normal cartilage development and long bone growth and acts to delay chondrocyte hypertrophy and terminal differentiation in the growth plate. After growth plate closure adult HACs (human articular chondrocytes) still produce PTHrP, suggesting a possible role for this factor in the permanent articular cartilage. However, the expression r...

CONTEXT There is insufficient knowledge about the chondrocyte membranome and its molecular composition. OBJECTIVE To develop a Triton X-114 based separation technique using nanoLC-MS/MS combined with shotgun proteomics to identify chondrocyte membrane proteins. MATERIALS AND METHODS Articular chondrocytes from equine metacarpophalangeal joints were separated into hydrophobic and hydrophilic...

Introduction Articular cartilage is a highly specialized tissue that is vulnerable to injury and disease and has a limited capacity for self-regeneration. The autologous chondrocyte transplantation technique has not been successful because of rapid dedifferentiation of chondrocytes in monolayer culture, producing fibroblast-specific markers (mainly collagen I) rather than a cartilage-specific m...

The aims of this study were (i) to quantify chondrocyte mechanics in fully intact articular cartilage attached to its native bone and (ii) to compare the chondrocyte mechanics for cells in healthy and early osteoarthritis (OA) tissue. We hypothesized that cells in the healthy tissue would deform less for given articular surface pressures than cells in the early OA tissue because of a loss of ma...

BACKGROUND Articular cartilage undergoes an important maturation process from neonate to adult that is reflected by alterations in matrix protein organization and increased heterogeneity of chondrocyte morphology. In the horse, these changes are influenced by exercise during the first five months of postnatal life. Transcriptional profiling was used to evaluate changes in articular chondrocyte ...

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is an antioxidant and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid that reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines. We evaluated the role of EPA in chondrocyte apoptosis and degeneration. Normal human chondrocytes were treated with EPA and sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Expression of metalloproteinases (MMPs) was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and that of...

The repair of chondral injuries is a very important problem and a subject of many experimental and clinical studies. Different techniques to induce articular cartilage repair are under investigation. In the present study, we have investigated whether the repair of articular cartilage folowing costal chondrocyte transplantation is donor age-dependent. Transplantation of costal chondrocytes from ...

Background We previously conducted a first-in-human clinical study of articular cartilage repair using autologous chondrocyte sheets and confirmed the regeneration of hyaline-like cartilage in all eight patients. However, regenerative medicine with autologous chondrocyte sheets requires the harvesting of tissue from healthy regions, and the quality of this tissue varies between individuals. To ...

Endeavouring to repair and regenerate articular cartilage using cell sheets, we have previously established a co-culture system of chondrocytes and synoviocytes, and have reported the successful and rapid production of chondrocyte sheets. In the present study, to examine the effects of oxygen concentration on the chondrocyte sheets, we co-cultured human articular chondrocytes and human synovioc...