22 research outputs found
The effect of pretreatment with thio-TEPA and cytosine arabinoside on megakaryocytopoiesis in rats given a sublethal dose of thio-TEPA
Mechanisms of acid-base and ionoregulation in white suckers (Catostomus commersoni) in natural soft water
Matrix vesicles produced by osteoblast-like cells in culture become significantly enriched in proteoglycan-degrading metalloproteinases after addition of ?-Glycerophosphate and ascorbic acid
Gender-specific distribution of glycosaminoglycans during cartilage mineralization of human thyroid cartilage
The role of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in the process of cartilage mineralization, especially in the hypertrophic zone of growth plates, is not yet fully understood. Human thyroid cartilage can serve as a model to observe matrix changes associated with cartilage mineralization because the processes follow a distinct route, progress very slowly and show sexual differences. Histochemical staining for low sulphated GAG (chondroitin-4- and -6-sulphates) was decreased in the interterritorial matrix of thyroid cartilage starting at the beginning of the fifth decade, but not in the pericellular or territorial matrix of chondrocytes. Because cartilage mineralization progressed in the interterritorial matrix it seems likely that a decreasing content of chondroitin-4- and -6-sulphates is involved in the mineralization process. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that immunostaining for chondroitin-4- and -6-sulphates was weaker in mineralized cartilage areas than in unmineralized areas, whereas there was no difference in staining for keratan sulphate. In all life decades, female thyroid cartilages contained more chondrocytes with a territorial rim of chondroitin-4- and -6-sulphates probably preventing cartilage mineralization compared with age-matched male specimens. Taken together, the characteristic distribution pattern of chondroitin-4- and -6-sulphates being more concentrated in female than in male thyroid cartilages provided evidence that these macromolecules decrease in cartilage mineralization