Objective(s):Osteoarthritis (OA) is globally one of the most common diseases from the middle age onwards. Cartilage is an avascular tissue therefore it cannot be repaired in the body. Conservative treatments have failed as a good remedy and cell therapy as a decisive cure is needed. One of the best and easily accessible cell sources for this purpose is adipose-derived stem cells which can be di...

Sox9 acts together with Sox5 or Sox6 as a master regulator for chondrogenesis; however, the inter-relationship among these transcription factors remains unclear. Here, we show that the protein kinase MLTK plays an essential role in the onset of chondrogenesis through triggering the induction of Sox6 expression by Sox9. We find that knockdown of MLTK in Xenopus embryos results in drastic loss of...

objective(s):osteoarthritis (oa) is globally one of the most common diseases from the middle age onwards. cartilage is an avascular tissue therefore it cannot be repaired in the body. conservative treatments have failed as a good remedy and cell therapy as a decisive cure is needed. one of the best and easily accessible cell sources for this purpose is adipose-derived stem cells which can be di...

Among the many factors involved in regulation of chondrogenesis, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and members of the Sox and homeobox transcription factor families have been shown to have crucial roles. Of these regulators, the homeobox transcription factors that function during chondrogenesis have been the least well defined. We show here that the homeobox transcription factor Barx2 is expre...

BACKGROUND It has been established that skeletal growth is stunted in lead-exposed children. Because chondrogenesis is a seminal step during skeletal development, elucidating the impact of Pb on this process is the first step toward understanding the mechanism of Pb toxicity in the skeleton. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that Pb alters chondrogenic commitment of ...

Protein phosphorylation plays a determining role in the regulation of chondrogenesis in vitro. While signalling pathways governed by protein kinases including PKA, PKC, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) have been mapped in great details, published data relating to the specific role of phosphoprotein phosphatases (PPs) in differentiating chondroprogenitor cells or in mature chondrocyt...

Nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) and calcineurin are essential regulators of immune cell and mesenchymal cell differentiation. Here we show that elevated intracellular calcium induces chondrogenesis through a calcineurin/NFAT signaling axis that activates bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) expression. The calcium ionophore, ionomycin, induced chondrogenesis through activation of calcine...

Introduction: Endochondral ossification is one of the essential processes during skeletal bone system development, which requires chondrogenesis accompanies with proper extracellular matrix production. Recently, regulation of chondrogenesis by Wnt signaling has been extensively studied and some of Wnt signaling components are known to regulate endochondral ossification [1]. However, the underly...

Previous work has indicated that signals from the floor plate and notochord promote chondrogenesis of the somitic mesoderm. These tissues, acting through the secreted signaling molecule Sonic hedgehog (Shh), appear to be critical for the formation of the sclerotome. Later steps in the differentiation of sclerotome into cartilage may be independent of the influence of these axial tissues. Althou...

We previously showed that atRA (all-trans Retinoic Acid, atRA) inhibites chondrogenesis by downregulation of TGF-beta/Smad signaling. However, the molecular link between RA and TGF-beta signaling is unknown. Using a mouse embryo palate mesenchyme micomass cultures (MMCs) system, we explored interactions of RA and TGF-beta signaling during chondrogenesis. We found that atRA suppressed chondrogen...