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The Effect of Mechanical Loading on the Metabolism of Growth Plate Chondrocytes

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Abstract

It is well known that mechanical loading influences the endochondral bone formation essential for the growth and development of longitudinal bones. The question was, however, asked whether the effect of mechanical loading on the chondrocyte metabolism is dependent on the loading frequency. This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of tensile loadings with various frequencies on the proliferation of growth plate chondrocytes and extracellular matrix synthesis. The chondrocytes obtained from rib growth plate cartilage of 4-week-old male Wistar strain rats were cultured by day 4 and day 11 and used as proliferating and matrix-forming chondrocytes, respectively. Intermittent tensile stresses with different frequencies were applied to each stage chondrocyte. DNA syntheses were examined by measuring the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into the cells. Furthermore, the rates of collagen and proteoglycan syntheses were determined by measuring the incorporation of [2,3-3H]proline and [35S]sulfate into the cells, respectively. At the proliferating stage, intermittent tensions with the frequencies of 30 cycles/min and 150 cycles/min significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated the syntheses of DNA, which indicates the promotion of chondrocyte proliferation. At the matrix-forming stage, collagen, and proteoglycan syntheses also enhanced with increase of the loading frequency. In particular, the intermittent tension with the frequencies of 30 cycles/min and 150 cycles/min increased significantly (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01) both the collagen and proteoglycan syntheses. These results suggest that the proliferation and differentiation of growth plate chondrocytes are regulated by the mechanical loading and that the chondrocyte metabolism enhanced with increase of loading frequency. These may give more insight into the possible mechanism leading to endochondral bone formation.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a Grant-in-aid (#1157166, #1347045100, #15791209, #15390636, and #15592165) for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture in Japan. This work was also carried out by the courtesy of the Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Hiroshima University.

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  1. Department of Orthodontics and Craniofacial Developmental Biology, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8553, Japan

    Masashi Ueki, Nobuaki Tanaka, Kotaro Tanimoto, Clarice Nishio, Kobun Honda, Yu-Yu Lin, Yuki Tanne, Satoru Ohkuma, Takashi Kamiya, Eiji Tanaka & Kazuo Tanne

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  1. Masashi Ueki
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  2. Nobuaki Tanaka
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Correspondence to Eiji Tanaka.

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Ueki, M., Tanaka, N., Tanimoto, K. et al. The Effect of Mechanical Loading on the Metabolism of Growth Plate Chondrocytes. Ann Biomed Eng 36, 793–800 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-008-9462-7

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