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Topographical variation in the distributions of versican, aggrecan and perlecan in the foetal human spine reflects their diverse functional roles in spinal development
- Source :
- Histochemistry and cell biology. 132(5)
- Publication Year :
- 2009
-
Abstract
- We evaluated the immunohistochemical distribution of three major proteoglycans of cartilage, i.e., aggrecan, versican and perlecan vis-a-vis collagens I and II in the developing human spine of first-trimester foetuses. Aggrecan and perlecan were prominently immunolocalised in the cartilaginous vertebral body rudiments and to a lesser extent within the foetal intervertebral disc. In contrast, versican was only expressed in the developing intervertebral disc interspace. Using domain-specific monoclonal antibodies against the various modules of versican, we discovered the V0 isoform as the predominant form present. Versican immunolocalisations conducted with antibodies directed to epitopes in its N and C termini and GAG-alpha and GAG-beta core protein domains provided evidence that versican in the nucleus pulposus was either synthesised devoid of a G3 domain or this domain was proteolytically removed in situ. The V0 versican isoform was localised with prominent fibrillar components in the annular lamellae of the outer annulus fibrosus. Perlecan was a notable pericellular proteoglycan in the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus but poorly immunolocalised in the marginal tissues of the developing intervertebral disc, apparently delineating the intervertebral disc-vertebral body interface region destined to become the cartilaginous endplate in the mature intervertebral disc. The distribution of collagens I and II in the foetal spine was mutually exclusive with type I present in the outer annulus fibrosus, marginal tissues around the vertebral body rudiment and throughout the developing intervertebral disc, and type II prominent in the vertebral rudiment, absent in the outer annulus fibrosus and diffusely distributed in the inner annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus. Collectively, our findings suggest the existence of an intricate and finely balanced interplay between various proteoglycans and collagens and the spinal cell populations which synthesise and assemble these components during spinal development.
- Subjects :
- musculoskeletal diseases
Gene isoform
Histology
Perlecan
Collagen Type I
Fetus
Versicans
medicine
Humans
Aggrecans
Molecular Biology
Collagen Type II
Aggrecan
Annulus (mycology)
biology
Cartilage
Intervertebral disc
Cell Biology
Anatomy
musculoskeletal system
Immunohistochemistry
Spine
carbohydrates (lipids)
Medical Laboratory Technology
medicine.anatomical_structure
Proteoglycan
biology.protein
Versican
Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1432119X
- Volume :
- 132
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Histochemistry and cell biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b925112ceec4d2b63938d994e1912fe2