The major aim of this work was to develop a cell culture system in which changes in the rate of synthesis of intervertebral disc (IVD) matrix molecules could be evaluated in cells of animals of different ages. In particular, the synthesis of the large aggregating proteoglycans (PGs) and of decorin (DCN) and biglycan (BGN) were investigated. In addition, the potential use of growth factors to modulate the anabolism of these molecules was also studied. The results of these studies have demonstrated that the age related decline in PG biosynthesis observed in human disc tissue can be reflected in a bovine disc cell culture model. The three dimensional alginate bead cell culture model was effective in maintaining the phenotype of disc cells from both annulus fibrosus (AF) and nucleus pulposus (NP) regions in the presence of serum. Differences in phenotype of these respective cells were illustrated in vivo by the patterns of resident PGs obtained from tissue extractions. In the AF of young animals, the predominant form observed was a small PG form while in the NP of all age groups, aggrecan was the major species. In vitro collagen analyses confirmed the different phenotype of cells from the AF and NP regions. Also, TGF-beta1 was effectively used to stimulate over all PG synthesis in NP cells from and young adult bovine. After 10 days in culture, TGF-beta1 treated cells showed similar relative amounts of the small PGs compared to aggrecan as those determined from tissue extractions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21564 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Heathfield, Terrence François. |
| Contributors | Alini, Mauro (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Division of Surgical Research.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001650203, proquestno: MQ50785, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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