A glial hyaluronate-binding protein (GHAP) with an isoelectric point of 4.3-4.4 was isolated from human brain white matter. The 60-kDa glycoprotein appeared to be quite resistant to proteolysis, and comparison with GHAP from a viable glioma removed at surgery showed that the protein isolated from autopsy material was not a degradation product resulting from postmortem autolysis. The protein was...

An in vitro system has been developed to study the onset of chondrogenesis. Embryonic rat muscle mesenchymal cells, when treated in suspension culture with an extract of bovine bone matrix, synthesized cartilage-specific proteoglycan and type II collagen. The synthesis of these two macromolecules was assayed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition technique. Further evidence of chon...

The structure of adult bovine articular cartilage high density proteoglycans (PG-I) was studied by degradation with Pronase, chondroitinase ABC, and alkaline borohydride treatments and fractionation and analysis of the products. The keratan sulfate (KS) peptides were rich in glutamic acid, proline, and serine and had a low glycine content. The chondroitin sulfate (CS) peptides had a high conten...

BACKGROUND Synovial explants furnish an in-situ population of mesenchymal stem cells for the repair of articular cartilage. Although bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) induces the chondrogenesis of bovine synovial explants, the cartilage formed is neither homogeneously distributed nor of an exclusively hyaline type. Furthermore, the downstream differentiation of chondrocytes proceeds to the s...

Cartilage injury is a central issue in orthopedics to which there is no known physiological treatment. Neuropeptides play a role in the proliferative and reparative processes of many tissue types, but little is known about their effects on articular cartilage. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the neuropeptides calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), substance P (SP), ...