AIM The molecular pathways regulating cartilage degradation are unclear. miR-381 was identified as a putative regulator of chondrogenesis related genes. Here, we examined its role in chondrogenesis and osteoarthritic cartilage degeneration. METHODS miR-381 expression was assessed in vitro in response to IL-1β stimulation in primary human (PHC) and mouse (PMC) chondrocytes, and ATDC5 derived c...

As limb mesenchymal cells differentiate into chondrocytes, they initiate the synthesis of type II collagen and cease synthesizing type I collagen. Changes in the cytoplasmic levels of type I and type II collagen mRNAs during the course of limb chondrogenesis in vivo and in vitro were examined using cloned cDNA probes. A striking increase in cytoplasmic type II collagen mRNA occurs coincident wi...

[Purpose] The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of pulsed and continuous ultrasound (US) irradiation on heat shock protein (HSP) 70 and mRNA levels of chondrogenesis-related gene expression in rat tibial articular cartilage. [Subjects and Methods] Forty-eight rats with body weights of 200-250 g were randomly divided into three groups. In the control (CON) group, three rats were...

Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Self-assembling peptide hydrogels were modified to deliver transforming growth factor b1 (TGF-b1) to encapsulated b...

INTRODUCTION Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are undifferentiated pluripotential cells capable of differentiating into many cell types, such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, myocytes, and may be a suitable autogenous cell source for articular cartilage repair. In vitro experiments show markers of chondrogenesis, such as aggrecan and collagen type II, are expressed in MSCs cul...

Bone fracture healing is processed through multiple stages including the cartilaginous callus formation and its transition to bony callus. FGFR3 negatively regulates chondrogenesis and enhances osteogenesis during skeleton development. We previously found in mice carrying gain-of-function mutation of FGFR3 that FGFR3 delays the healing of un-stabilized fracture that heals mainly through endocho...

INTRODUCTION The present study compares bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4 and BMP-2 gene transfer as agents of chondrogenesis and hypertrophy in human primary mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) maintained as pellet cultures. METHODS Adenoviral vectors carrying cDNA encoding human BMP-4 (Ad.BMP-4) were constructed by cre-lox combination and compared to previously generated adenoviral vectors for B...

Lateral integration and fusion of cartilage tissue interfaces remain significantly challenging limits success engineering (TE) strategies. In this study, self-assembled vitreous humor (VH) spheroids are fabricated by seeding clinically relevant human articular chondrocytes (hACs) or mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) in four VH hydrogels with different glycosaminoglycans (GAG) protein content. Q...

Recent studies have indicated that ATRA inhibits chondrogenesis and can lead to congenital clubfoot (CCF). The molecular mechanism of ATRA-induced chondrogenesis is not clear. As RhoA/ROCK and SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling play important molecular roles for a variety of cellular processes, we hypothesized that RhoA/ROCK2 and SDF-1/CXCR4 signaling are involved in ATRA-induced chondrogenesis in rat embry...