Maïté Corvol

Estrogens, cartilage, and osteoarthritis

A role for estrogens in osteoarthritis is consistent with the larger increases in women than in men in the incidence and prevalence of hip, knee, and finger osteoarthritis after 50 years of age. Furthermore, hormone replacement therapy for the menopause seems to be associated with a decrease in the prevalence of symptoms and radiological alterations related to hip and knee osteoarthritis. The two estrogen receptors alpha and beta (ERalpha and Erbeta) have been identified in normal and osteoarthritic cartilage, indicating that cartilage can respond to estrogens. Finally, in vivo experiments in animals and in vitro studies have shed light on the mechanisms by which estrogens may influence chondrocyte metabolism.

Specific nuclear uptake of 24,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, a vitamin D3 metabolite biologically active in cartilage

Vitamin Ds is metabolized in the course of two hydroxylations: the first, in the liver, yields 25-(OH)D3; the second, in the kidney, takes place in positions la and 24 and produces 1,25(OH),Ds and 24,25-(0H)zDs. However, the kidney is probably not the sole production site for the latter sterol, since we demonstrated that cultured chondrocytes and cartilage tissue in vitro transform 25(OH)Ds into 24,25(OH),D, [ 11. The biological effect of this last dihydroxylated metabolite is not yet clear, but we showed earlier that in cultured chondrocytes, 24,25(OH)2D3 stimulates both the synthesis and secretion of proteoglycans [2] as well as DNA polymerase activities [3]. Such stimulation was obtained with 24,25(OH)2Ds at lo-” M, suggesting that this metabolite is intrinsically active in chondrocytes at physiological concentrations. These results were the first in vitro demonstration that, at least in cartilage, 24,25-(OH)2D3 is an active vitamin D metabolite rather than a product of degradation. In that case, the action of 24,25-(bH),Ds in chondrocytes might resemble that of other steroids in their target cells. Such cellular action involves temperature-dependent nuclear penetration of the sterol that precedes sterolspecific mRNA synthesis. With this in mind, we looked for nuclear penetration of 24,25-(0H)2 [‘HID, using the above cultured chondrocyte model.

Age-dependent responsiveness of rabbit and human cartilage cells to sex steroids in vitro

Rabbit epiphyseal cartilage tissue has been shown to convert testosterone (T) to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). In this report, the metabolic conversion of T into DHT is shown to be age-dependent, being most active in cartilage from animal at the age of gonadal maturation. Human cartilage from newborn and prepubertal children is also shown to convert T into DHT and--to a lesser extent--to estradiol. Low concentrations of DHT and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) (10(-11)-10(-9) M) were also shown to stimulate in vitro cartilage cells from boys and girls respectively. As previously shown for cultured rabbit chondrocytes, the stimulating effects of both hormones on human chondrocytes was age-dependent. Cartilage cells derived from children up to one year old did not respond, while cells from boys and girls in the early phase of puberty responded best. These data indicate that human cartilage tissue in vivo, contains both 5 alpha-reductase and aromatase activities during post-natal skeletal growth. Androgens may act on cartilage after their metabolic conversion to estrogens. The mechanism of age-dependency of both cartilage androgen enzymatic activities and chondrocyte responsiveness to sex steroids in vitro remains to be explained.

Cyclic tensile stretch modulates proteoglycan production by intervertebral disc annulus fibrosus cells through production of nitrite oxide

Degeneration of the intervertebral disc is the main pathophysiological process implicated in low back pain and is a prerequisite to disc herniation. Clinically, mechanical forces are important modulators of the degeneration, but the underlying molecular mechanism is not known and needs investigation to identify the biological target. The aim of this work was to study, at the molecular level, the effects of cyclic tensile stretch (CTS) on the production of proteoglycan by intervertebral disc annulus fibrosus cells since proteoglycans seem to be implicated in the dynamic process of intervertebral disc degeneration. Such cells of rabbit were cultured at high density on plates with a flexible bottom. CTS was applied with use of a pressure‐operated instrument to deform the plates. With CTS at 1% elongation (1 Hz frequency), the level of 35S‐labeled neosynthesized proteoglycans that accumulated in the cellular pool or were secreted in the culture medium did not change, but at 5% elongation, the level was significantly reduced after 8 h of stimulation (30 and 21%, respectively) and further reduced at 24 h (43 and 41%, respectively). Introducing the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide had no effect on this result. Neither aggrecan and biglycan expression nor proteoglycan physical properties were modified. The level of nitrite oxide production significantly increased by 3.5 times after 8 h of 5% elongation. Introducing the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors NG‐methyl‐l‐arginine or N‐omega nitro‐l‐arginine diminished the effects of CTS on the production of nitrite oxide and proteoglycans. By contrast, introducing N‐iminoethyl‐l‐lysine (a more specific inhibitor of inductible NOS [iNOS]) had little or no effect. Taken together, these results suggest that cNOS activation seems to be more implicated in the 5% CTS modulation of proteoglycan production than iNOS activation. These results suggest that CTS can help regulate the intervertebral disc matrix by decreasing proteoglycan production through a post‐translational regulation involving nitrite oxide. This result could be of interest in the development of local therapeutic strategies aimed at controlling intervertebral disc degeneration. J. Cell. Biochem. 90: 148–157, 2003.

Insulin-like growth factors counteract the effect of interleukin 1β on type II phospholipase A2 expression and arachidonic acid release by rabbit articular chondrocytes

Interleukin 1β was found to stimulate arachidonic acid release, and the synthesis and secretion of type II phospholipase A2 by rabbit articular chondrocytes in vitro. Interleukin 1β had no effect on the level of cytosolic phospholipase A2 mRNA. Insulin‐like growth factors, which help stabilize the cartilage matrix, reduced the effect of interleukin 1β on type II phospholipase A2 activity and mRNA level, and decreased the Interleukin 1β‐stimulated arachidonic acid release to the basal values. This suggests that type II phospholipase A2 plays a key role in arachidonic acid release from rabbit articular chondrocytes and that insulin‐like growth factors counteract the effect of interleukin 1β. They may therefore be considered as potential antiinflammatory agents.

Modulation of sulfated proteoglycan synthesis and collagen gene expression by chondrocytes grown in the presence of bFGF alone or combined with IGF1

Prepubertal rabbit epiphyseal chondrocytes were grown in high density primary culture for 3 d. They were then incubated for 3 additional d in serum-free culture medium to which bFGF (1-50 ng/ml) was added. During the last 24 h incubation period, either IGF1 (1-80 ng/ml) or Insulin (1-5 micrograms/ml) was added to the culture medium. Chondrocyte DNA was significantly augmented with the increasing concentration of bFGF used, thus confirming its mitogenic effect on chondrocytes. On the other hand, bFGF was also shown to modulate the phenotypic expression of the chondrocytes. The 35S-sulfate incorporation into newly synthesized proteoglycans by the cultured cells decreased in a dose-dependent manner with bFGF concentration used. In addition, chondrocyte collagen gene expression was also shown to be modulated by bFGF. Total RNA extracted from the cultured cells was analyzed by dot blot and Northern blot with cDNA probes encoding for alpha 1 II and alpha 1 I procollagen chains. A significant lower level of type II collagen mRNA, the marker of chondrocytic phenotype, was observed when cells were grown in the presence of bFGF while the level of type I mRNA remained unchanged. When IGF1 or a high concentration of insulin was added to the cells during the last 24 h of incubation with bFGF, sulfated proteoglycan synthesis, as well as collagen type II mRNA level, were significantly stimulated when compared with chondrocytes incubated with bFGF alone. In conclusion, in the present experimental conditions, bFGF appears to be a growth promoting agent for chondrocytes in vitro with dedifferentiating action on chondrocyte phenotype. IGF1 or insulin used at a high concentration can prevent the dedifferentiating effect of bFGF without inhibiting its stimulating effect on chondrocyte DNA synthesis.

Inhibition of chondrocyte cathepsin B and L activities by insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) and its Ser29 variant in vitro: possible role of the mannose 6-phosphate/IGF-II receptor

Lysosomal enzymes and IGF-II both bind to the mannose 6-phosphate (M6P)/IGF-II receptor. This receptor targets newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes to lysosomes. The functional meaning of IGF-II binding to this receptor is not well known. We have postulated that IGF-II, the Ser29 IGF-II variant (vIGF-II) and IGF-I on lysosomal cathepsin B and L activities from post-natal rabbit chondrocytes in vitro. This effect was compared with the ability of each peptide to stimulate chondrocyte-sulfated proteoglycan synthesis. The sulfating dose-response relationship of the IGF peptides corresponded to their relative binding affinities for the type I-IGF receptor (IGF-I > IGF-II > vIGF-II). The intracellular cathepsin B and L activities were inhibited in a time- and dose-dependent manner by IGF-II or vIGF-II. Maximal inhibition of cathepsin B and L activities (40 and 30% below controls, respectively) was found after an 8 h treatment with 100 ng/ml IGF-II or vIGF-II. By contrast, IGF-I up to 1 micrograms/ml or insulin up to 2 micrograms/ml had no inhibitory effect. The relative potency pattern corresponded to the binding profile of each ligand for the M6P/IGF-II receptor. A treatment of chondrocytes with IGF-I or insulin transiently increased the binding of radiolabelled IGF-II at the cell surface to approximately 120% of controls, whereas IGF-II or vIGF-II had no effect. Thus, it is unlikely that the inhibition of lysosomal enzyme activities by IGF-II peptides could result from a redistribution of M6P/IGF-II receptors from intracellular compartments to the plasma membrane. We hypothesize that internalized IGF-II peptides could occupy the intracellular M6P/IGF-II binding sites required for targeting of cathepsins B and L to lysosomes.

Bone and cartilage responsiveness to sex steroid hormones

Gonadal steroids influence the skeletal growth and metabolism both during the pubertal growth spurt and in adulthood with aging. It is now generally agreed that sex steroid effect on skeletal tissues is due to indirect and direct actions. In this presentation, in vitro effects of sex steroids on cartilage cells are reported by comparison with those observed on bone cells.

In vitro biosynthesis by articular chondrocytes of a specific low molecular size proteoglycan pool

Proteoglycans synthesized by articular and epiphyseal chondrocytes in culture were compared. Proteoglycans extruded by the two types of cells into the culture medium are of identical M r. On the other hand, the proteoglycans of cells or pericellular matrix synthesized by the articular chondrocytes are characterized by an heterogeneous fraction of low‐M r which is not present in the material derived from epiphyseal chondrocytes. There are at least two components in this fraction: the first seems to be a precursor of aggregated proteoglycans, the other may represent a component of cell coat. Stimulation of the cell cultures with vitamin D metabolites and somatomedin enhances proteoglycan biosynthesis but no modification is observed in the proteoglycan M r.

Purification and characterization of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF II) and an IGF II variant from human placenta

In order to purify variant IGF II peptides from human placenta, we have developed a purification procedure combining heparin affinity chromatography and cation-exchange, reversed-phase and size-exclusion HPLC. Two peptides were purified, both having apparent M(r) values of ca. 7300 Da as evaluated by SDS-PAGE. N-Terminal sequencing revealed IGF II and an IGF II variant in which Ser29 was replaced by the tetrapeptide Arg-Leu-Pro-Gly. The final yield of variant IGF II was about eight-fold lower than that of IGF II. Both pure peptides were functionally active as they bound to type I and type II IGF receptors from ovine and human placental membranes, as determined by crosslinking experiments and displacement curve studies.