Study on the shape, phenotype and intercellular communication of chondrocyte

doi:10.3321/j.issn:1673-8225.2004.14.020

Abstract：BACKGROUND: The chondrocytes cultured in vitro will grow in a thin layer and lose their pheootype, assuming fibroblast. There is no report about the relationship between the phenotype and intercellular communication of chondrocytes.OBJECTIVE: To study the proliferation, matrix synthesis, relationship between fluorescence stain intake and gap junction of various form chondrocytes cultured in vitro.DESIGN: An experimental study based on diagnosis was conducted.SETTING and PARTICIPANTS: The experiment was conducted in the Institute of Orthopaedics, and Institute of Basic Sciences, General Hospital of PLA. The subjects were rabbit joint cartilages and human femoral head cartilages.INTERVENTIONS: Rabbit chondrocytes cultured in vitro were stained with hematoxylin-eosin(HE) and light green-safranin O respectively. The chondrocyte' s size was measured with microscope and the intracellular fluorescence intensity was measured with confocal laser microscope. The fluorescence stain in chondrocyte was quenched with laser.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Appearance, size and intracellular fluorescence intensity of chondrocytes.RESULTS: The chondrocytes became larger and lost their spherical form.Then their proliferation was accelerated. The average projection area was 1755.1 μm2 with the difference of 50 times. The matrix synthesis and gap junction disappeared. The intake of CFDA-AM increased in spherical chondrocytes(average 2057/30 cells) compared with the decreased intake in flat chondrocytes(average 80/30 cells) . There was intercellular communication in spherical rabbit chondrocytes in vitro and human chondrocytes in lacuna of cartilage germinal layer.CONCLUSION: There are certain relationships among the density, form,phenotype and gap junction in chondrocytes. The phenotype may be determined by chondrocytes form.