PMID: 30220711Sep 18, 2018Paper

Excessive tensile strain induced the change in chondrocyte phenotype

Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics
Dongyan ZhongZong-Ping Luo

Abstract

Chondrocyte extracellular matrix type II collagen and proteoglycans ensure an important compression-bearing structure in synovial joint. However, much more type I collagen is generated in osteoarthritis, which implies the presence of abnormal tensile strain in cartilage. We hypothesize that tensile stress influences chondrocyte phenotype at the cellular level, leading to potential osteoarthritis. Chondrocytes were stimulated with cyclic excessive tensile (10%) or mild tensile or compressive strain (5%) at 0.5 Hz, 3 h per day for 3 days. Chondrocyte morphology and matrix proteoglycans level was separately determined by Rhodamine phalloidin and toluidine blue staining. The expression of cartilage marker molecules was measured using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Chondrocytes demonstrated significant fibroblastic morphology, reduced proliferation and increased apoptosis following exposure to 10% tensile strain. The 10% tensile strain group induced the lowest matrix proteoglycans level. It observably reduced the expression of COL2A1, Acan and SOX9, and increased COL1A1 expression level. The 5% tensile (5% compression) group, maintained the chondrocyte phenotype. ...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis