Abstract
Extracellular matrices (ECM) are abundant in articular cartilage and are composed of structural molecules such as chondroitin sulfate (CS), hyaluronic acid (HA), and collagen (COL). In recent years, purified CS and HA have been sometimes used in health foods for improving joint function. Although these molecules interact with one another and function intravitally, research on the influence of ECM complex on chondrocytes is limited. In this paper, we investigated the in vitro effect of adding chicken knee cartilage extract (CKCE) on the proliferation of chondrocytes.
Mouse pre-chondrogenic cell line, ATDC5 was cultured with CKCE or CKCE treated with either protease or chondroitinase, and the cell proliferation was evaluated by the WST-1 assay. The CS purified from shark cartilage and HA purified from cockscomb chicken were used as the control groups.
The chondrocyte proliferation was 1.5 times higher in the group with CKCE than in the group without CKCE. Additionally, protease- or chondroitinase-treated CKCE induced a similar increase in chondrocyte proliferation. Conversely, CS, HA, and their enzyme-treated products did not have any effect on ATDC5 proliferation.
These results indicate that low-molecular weight components different from HA and CS, which are protease- or chondroitinase-resistant, promotes the chondrocyte proliferation.
