Basement membrane collagen type IV expression by human mesenchymal stem cells during adipogenic differentiation.

During adipogenic differentiation human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) produce collagen type IV. In immunofluorescence staining differentiating hMSCs started to express collagen type IV when Oil Red O-positive fat droplets appeared intracellularly. Quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction confirmed progressive increase of collagen type IV α1 and α2 mRNA levels over time, 18.6- and 12.2-fold by day 28, respectively, whereas the copy numbers of α3-α6 mRNAs remained rather stable and low. Type IV collagen was in confocal laser scanning microscopy seen around adipocytes, where also laminins and nidogen were found, suggesting pericellular deposition of all key components of the fully developed basement membrane. Immunofluorescence staining of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2, 72 kD type IV collagenase, gelatinase A) and MMP-9 (92 kD type IV collagenase, gelatinase B) disclosed only faint staining of MSCs, but MMP-9 was strongly induced during adipogenesis, whereas MSC supernatants disclosed in zymography pro-MMP-2 and faint pro-MMP-9 bands, which increased over time, with partial conversion of pro-MMP-2 to its active 62 kD form. Differentiation was associated with increasing membrane type 1-MMP/MMP-14 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) staining, which may enable participation of type IV collagenases in basement membrane remodelling via ternary MT1-MMP/TIMP-2/MMP-2 or -9 complexes, focalizing the fully active enzyme to the cell surface. MMP-9, which increased more in immunofluorescence staining, was perhaps preferentially bound to cell surface and/or remodelling adipocyte basement membrane. These results suggest that upon MSC-adipocyte differentiation collagen type IV synthesis and remodelling become necessary when intracellular accumulation of fat necessitates a dynamically supporting and instructive, partly denatured adipogenic pericellular type IV collagen scaffold.

Exosomal secretion of death bullets: a new way of apoptotic escape?

Ovariectomy/estrogen deficiency causes selective apoptosis of the serous epithelial cells of the submandibular glands (SMG) in female mice. Because such apoptosis does not occur in healthy, estrogen-deficient male mice, it was hypothesized that dihydrotestosterone (DHT) protects epithelial SMG cells against apoptosis. The antiapoptotic effect of DHT on human epithelial HSG cells exposed to tumor necrosis factor-α and cycloheximide was studied. Correspondingly, the proapoptotic effect of androgen deficiency was studied in orchiectomized (ORX) androgen-knockout (ARKO) and wild-type (WT) mice. The health state of the SMG cells was studied with Alcian blue-periodic acid Schiff (AB-PAS) and amylase staining and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The eventual protective antiapoptotic effect of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) treatment was tested in this model. Apoptosis was assessed using immunohistochemisty of cleaved effector caspase-3 and its activator caspase-8 and the TUNEL assay. To test for the bioavailability, intracrine metabolism and sex steroid effects of DHEA, cystein-rich secretory protein-3 (CRISP-3), and leucine-isoleucine-valine transport system 1 (LIV-1) were used as androgen- and estrogen-regulated biomarkers, respectively. DHT protected HSG cells against induced apoptosis. In mice, androgen deficiency resulted in extensive activation of apoptotic caspase-8/3 cascade in serous epithelial cells. However, in salivary glands, active caspases were not translocated to nuclei but secreted to salivary ducts in exosome-like particles, which are associated with weak AB-PAS and amylase staining of the androgen-deprived cells and reduced number of intracellular secretory granules. DHEA treatment suppressed induction of proapoptotic caspases and almost normalized mucins and amylase and ultramophology of the serous epithelial cells in WT ORX but not ARKO ORX mice. According to the CRISP-3 and LIV-1 markers, DHEA probably exerted its effects via intracrine conversion to DHT.

The effect of loading and material on the biomechanical properties and vitality of bovine cartilage in vitro.

PURPOSE: New methodology for long-term (270 h) biomechanical testing with living cartilage was developed. Polyurethane (PU) implant material was compared with stainless steel and reference samples in static unconfined compressive loading conditions on cartilage to provide a basis for dynamic testing of novel PU implant materials under conditions that simulate an articulating human knee joint. METHODS: Custom-made tools and techniques were developed to prepare cylindrical samples from bovine patella with cartilage including subchondral bone. Specific incubator cups with static loading setups for a culture incubator were manufactured to keep bovine cartilage explants alive in cell culture conditions under unconfined static compressive loading (0.25 MPa) for 270 h (11.25 d). Four loading conditions of cartilage were studied: free (FREE), restrained minimal loading (RESTR), loading with a metal plate (MEW) and loading with polyurethane (PUW). RESULTS: After static loading for 270 h, cartilage biomechanical tests indicated clear differences between the groups in frequency dependent dynamic stiffness curves. Surprisingly, the PU curves were closest to the FREE sample curves. Those with load and direct contact with metal (MEW) became significantly stiffer, while restrained samples became softer. Significant differences (p<0.05, Mann-Whitney's U test) in cell vitality between samples from various groups could be seen in fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and propidium iodide (PI) stained samples by confocal microscopic analysis. The approximate mean percentages of living cells after 270 hours cultivation were: FREE 87%, MEW 3%, PUW 35%, and RESTR 66%. Test results indicate that it is possible to keep cartilage cells alive in cell culture incubator conditions for two weeks period under a 0.25 MPa unconfined static loading. The FREE samples were most successful and cells loaded with PU were more vital than cells loaded with metal. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, PU seems to be more compatible material than surgical steel in contact with living cartilage. Because of a large variation in the quality of bovine cartilage material from different animals, special care is necessary when selecting specimens to guarantee reliable and reproducible results.

Intracrine androgenic apparatus in human bone marrow stromal cells.

It was suggested that human mesenchymal stromal cells might contain an intracrine enzyme machinery potentially able to synthesize the cell's own supply of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) pro-hormone produced in the adrenal cortex in the reticular zone, which is unique to primates. Indeed, 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3beta-HSD) and 5alpha-reductase enzyme proteins were expressed in resting mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in vitro. However, the 'bridging' enzymes 17beta-HSDs, catalysing interconversion between 17beta-ketosteroids and 17beta-hydroxysteroids, were not found in resting MSCs, but 17beta-HSD enzyme protein was induced in a dose-dependent manner by DHEA. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions disclosed that this was mainly due to induction of the isoform 5 catalysing this reaction in 'forward', androgen-bound direction (P < 0.01). This work demonstrates that the MSCs have an intracrine machinery to convert DHEA to DHT if and when challenged by DHEA. DHEA as substrate exerts a positive, feed-forward up-regulation on the 17beta-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase-5, which may imply that DHEA-DHT tailor-making in MSCs is subjected to chronobiological regulation.

Microbial antigens mediate HLA-B27 diseases via TLRs.

HLA-B27 positive individuals are predisposed to reactive arthritis developing 1-3 weeks after urogenital and gastrointestinal infections. Also ankylosing spondylitis (AS) associates strongly to HLA-B27, but no specific infection, Klebsiella pneumoniae excluded, has been linked to it. Before the discovery of its HLA-B27 association there were many reports suggesting a link between chronic prostatitis in men or pelvic inflammatory disease in women and AS. They have since been forgotten although HLA-B27 did not help to understand, why this disease has an axial and ascending nature. It is proposed that the urogenital organs form a source of damage (or danger)-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), either exogenous pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) from microbes or endogenous alarmins, such as uric acid, released from necrotic cells or urate deposits. DAMPs are slowly seeded from low-down upwards via the pelvic and spinal lymphatic pathways. They reach Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in their target mesenchymal stem cells, which are stimulated to ectopic enchondral bone formation leading to syndesmophytes and bamboo spine. At the same time inflammatory cytokines induce secondary osteoporosis of the spine. This new paradigm places microbes, HLA-B27 and TLRs in the pathogenic centre stage, but without pinpointing any (one) specific pathogen; instead, shared microbial patterns are indicated.

Progression of human aortic valve stenosis is associated with tenascin-C expression.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to assess tenascin-C (TN-C) expression and its possible pathobiological impact in human aortic valve stenosis. BACKGROUND: Tenascin-C, a large extracellular matrix glycoprotein, has lately been increasingly connected to cardiovascular pathologies. As TN-C is a multifunctional protein implicated in cell proliferation, migration and differentiation, we investigated the pattern of its expression in diseased human aortic valves. METHODS: Fifty-five tricuspid, non-rheumatic stenotic aortic valves were collected from patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, and the controls consisted of four normal valves from individuals who had suffered traumatic death and one from a patient operated on because of a noncalcified purely regurgitant valve. A monoclonal mouse antibody to human TN-C (143DB7) was used as the primary antibody in immunostaining. To study the source of TN-C messenger RNA synthesis, some tissue samples were also examined using in situ hybridization. In order to identify smooth muscle cell differentiation, commercially available antibodies against alpha-smooth muscle actin were used, and immunophenotypic analysis of inflammatory cells was carried out by using the monoclonal mouse antibodies UCHL-1, L26 and PGM-1. RESULTS: In normal valves, TN-C expression was associated with the basement membrane beneath the endothelial cells, whereas stenotic valves showed no such expression but rather immunoreactivity in the deeper layers of the valves. This reactivity was associated with the characteristics typical of the stenosing process and the increased mechanical loading caused by hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: We hypothesize that the overexpression of TN-C in stenotic human aortic valves may emphasize that this disease is an active rather than a degenerative process.

Tenascin-C is highly expressed in respiratory distress syndrome and bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Tenascin-C is an extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein expressed in human tissues during organogenesis and in fibrotic and neoplastic processes. We hypothesized that its expression would increase in human lung in neonatal disorders such as infant respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Tenascin-C expression was studied by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH). The extent of tenascin-C immunoreactivity was scored as absent (0), low (+), moderate (++), strong (+++), or very strong (++++) separately in different types of pulmonary cells in controls (seven cases), RDS (19 cases), and BPD (12 cases). In controls, tenascin-C expression was low (+) underneath alveolar and bronchiolar epithelium, moderate (++) in intima of veins, and strong (+++) around chondrocytes. In RDS, tenascin-C expression was moderate (++) or strong (+++) underneath both bronchiolar and often detached alveolar epithelium underlying hyaline membranes in the walls of dilated alveoli. In particular, the patients with RDS who survived for 1 day or more had strong expression of tenascin-C within alveolar walls. In patients with BPD, tenascin-C was very strongly (++++) expressed in the remodeled fibrotic alveolar walls underneath regenerative epithelium. Increased expression of tenascin-C mRNA was seen below the alveolar and bronchiolar epithelia in RDS and BPD. The cells in these locations showed alpha-smooth muscle actin immunoreactivity, suggesting a myofibroblast phenotype. In conclusion, tenascin-C is highly expressed in the walls of alveoli and bronchioli in RDS and BPD, suggesting an association between the expression of this protein and the presence of these disorders.

Titanium particles modulate expression of Toll-like receptor proteins.

The role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) responding to microbial remnants, indolent biofilms or cellular byproducts in aseptic loosening of joint replacements is unknown. Thus, the effect of titanium (Ti) particles on TLR protein levels was evaluated. To create a model of particle-induced inflammation, an intramedullary stainless steel rod with and without Ti particles was bilaterally placed in the femora of 14 mice. The animals were sacrificed at 2 or 10 weeks postoperatively and paraffin-embedded femur sections were evaluated for TLR1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 proteins using immunohistochemistry. Decrease in the number of TLR immunoreactive cells was observed between weeks 2 and 10 in both settings. Furthermore, in the presence of Ti particles, the numbers of TLR immunoreactive cells were lower than in the presence of rod only at both time points, suggesting downregulation of TLR expression by Ti-particles per se. Accordingly, in a short-term 24 h stimulation, downregulation of TLR4 mRNA (p < 0.02) was observed in vitro in RAW 264.7 cells challenged with Ti particles. Results suggest that after an initial inflammatory stage, TLRs are downregulated in response to Ti particles, possibly to inhibit excessive inflammation, although TLR downregulation might at the same time render tissues more susceptible to pathogens.

Androgens and integrins in salivary glands in Sjogren's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Laminin alpha1-chain normally induces intercalated duct progenitors to differentiate to acinar cells through integrin (INT) alpha1ss1 and alpha2ss1 receptors. Maintenance of acinar cells is impaired in Sjögren's syndrome (SS), which is also characterized by low levels of serum and salivary androgens. We hypothesized that androgens normally support salivary gland remodeling by upregulating either laminin alpha1 chain or its cellular alpha1 or alpha2 INT subunit-containing receptors. METHODS: Intercalated duct and acinar human salivary gland (HSG) cells and labial salivary gland (LSG) biopsies from healthy controls and patients with SS were cultured without or with sex steroids. Laminin alpha1 chain and INT alpha1 and alpha2 subunits were studied using quantitative reverse-transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction and INT alpha1 and alpha2 subunits using immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: INT alpha1-subunit and alpha2-subunit messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were increased in intercalated duct and acinar cells by DHEA and testosterone. In contrast, laminin alpha1-chain mRNA levels were not affected. The upregulating effect of DHEA on INT subunits was also seen at the protein level. DHEA also increased mRNA levels of both INT subunits in healthy but not SS LSG. CONCLUSION: Androgens increased INT alpha1 and alpha2 subunits in tubuloepithelial cells and in healthy LSG, but in SS salivary glands this androgen regulation was defective, which is likely to contribute to defective outside-in signaling, acinar atrophy, and ductal cell hyperplasia.