SUMMARYSOX9 is a transcription factor of the SRY family that regulates sex determination, cartilage development and numerous other developmental events. In the foetal growth plate, Sox9 is highly expressed in chondrocytes of the proliferating and prehypertrophic zone but declines abruptly in the hypertrophic zone, suggesting that Sox9 downregulation in hypertrophic chondrocytes might be a necessary step to initiate cartilage-bone transition in the growth plate. In order to test this hypothesis, we generated transgenic mice misexpressing Sox9 in hypertrophic chondrocytes under the control of a BAC-Col10a1 promoter. The transgenic offspring showed an almost complete lack of bone marrow in newborns, owing to strongly retarded vascular invasion into hypertrophic cartilage and impaired cartilage resorption, resulting in delayed endochondral bone formation associated with reduced bone growth. In situ hybridization analysis revealed high levels of Sox9 misexpression in hypertrophic chondrocytes but deficiencies of Vegfa, Mmp13, RANKL and osteopontin expression in the non-resorbed hypertrophic cartilage, indicating that Sox9 misexpression in hypertrophic chondrocytes inhibits their terminal differentiation. Searching for the molecular mechanism of SOX9-induced inhibition of cartilage vascularization, we discovered that SOX9 is able to directly suppress Vegfa expression by binding to SRY sites in the Vegfa gene. Postnatally, bone marrow formation and cartilage resorption in transgenic offspring are resumed by massive invasion of capillaries through the cortical bone shaft, similar to secondary ossification. These findings imply that downregulation of Sox9 in the hypertrophic zone of the normal growth plate is essential for allowing vascular invasion, bone marrow formation and endochondral ossification.

According to the general understanding, the chondrocyte lineage terminates with the elimination of late hypertrophic cells by apoptosis in the growth plate. However, recent cell tracking studies have shown that murine hypertrophic chondrocytes can survive beyond “terminal” differentiation and give rise to a progeny of osteoblasts participating in endochondral bone formation. The question how chondrocytes convert into osteoblasts, however, remained open. Following the cell fate of hypertrophic chondrocytes by genetic lineage tracing using BACCol10;Cre induced YFP-reporter gene expression we show that a progeny of Col10Cre-reporter labelled osteoprogenitor cells and osteoblasts appears in the primary spongiosa and participates – depending on the developmental stage – substantially in trabecular, endosteal, and cortical bone formation. YFP+ trabecular and endosteal cells isolated by FACS expressed Col1a1, osteocalcin and runx2, thus confirming their osteogenic phenotype. In searching for transitory cells between hypertrophic chondrocytes and trabecular osteoblasts we identified by confocal microscopy a novel, small YFP+Osx+ cell type with mitotic activity in the lower hypertrophic zone at the chondro-osseous junction. When isolated from growth plates by fractional enzymatic digestion, these cells termed CDOP (chondrocyte-derived osteoprogenitor) cells expressed bone typical genes and differentiated into osteoblasts in vitro. We propose the Col10Cre-labeled CDOP cells mark the initiation point of a second pathway giving rise to endochondral osteoblasts, alternative to perichondrium derived osteoprogenitor cells. These findings add to current concepts of chondrocyte-osteocyte lineages and give new insight into the complex cartilage-bone transition process in the growth plate.

We recently reported that nitric oxide (NO), which is produced by chondrocytes treated with interleukin-1beta (IL-1), releases basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) stored in the matrix of articular chondrocytes. To clarify the mechanism of the IL-1-induced bFGF release, we investigated the production and gene expression of bFGF, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), syndecan 3, and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) by IL-1-treated rabbit articular chondrocytes. IL-1 stimulated not only the release of bFGF but also the production of it. Gelatin and casein zymography revealed that IL-1 stimulated the production of not only MMP-9 but also MMP-3. The increase in the production of these MMPs preceded the IL-1-stimulated bFGF release. An MMP inhibitor partially suppressed the release of bFGF, indicating that matrix degradation is at least partially involved in the IL-1-stimulated bFGF release even if increased production of bFGF is related to the release. IL-1 sequentially stimulated mRNA expression of iNOS, membrane type 1-MMP, MMP-9 and -3, and bFGF, in that order. NG-Monomethyl-L-arginine, an inhibitor of NO production, inhibited gene expression of MMP-9 and bFGF. These findings suggest that elevation of the NO level via iNOS mRNA expression stimulated by IL-1 mediates gene expression and production of MMPs and bFGF, resulting in the release of bFGF, and also reveal molecular mechanisms implicating the degradation of articular cartilage followed by angiogenesis in the synovium in arthritic joints.

Searching for CCN family protein 2/connective tissue growth factor (CCN2/CTGF) interactive proteins by yeast-twohybrid screening, we identified fibronectin 1 gene product as a major binding partner of CCN2/CTGF in the chondrosarcomaderived chondrocytic cell line HCS-2/8. Only the CT domain of CCN2/CTGF bound directly to fibronectin (FN). CCN2/ CTGF and its CT domain enhanced the adhesion of HCS-2/8 cells to FN in a dose-dependent manner. The CCN2/CTGFenhancing effect on cell adhesion to FN was abolished by a blocking antibody against a5b1 integrin (a5b1), but not by one against anti-avb3 integrin. These findings suggest for the first time that CCN2/CTGF enhances chondrocyte adhesion to FN through direct interaction of its C-terminal CT domain with FN, and that a5b1 is involved in this adhesion.

Connective tissue growth factor/hypertrophic chondrocyte specific gene product 24 (CTGF/Hcs24) promotes proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes in culture. We investigated the roles of two major types of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) in the promotion of proliferation and differentiation by CTGF/Hcs24. Here we report the effects of the MAPKK/MEK 1/2 inhibitor, PD098059, and p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580, in a human chondrosarcoma-derived chondrocytic cell line (HCS-2/8) and rabbit growth cartilage (RGC) cells treated with CTGF/ Hcs24. In the proliferation phase, CTGF/Hcs24 induced a < fivefold increase in the phosphorylation of p44/42 MAPK/ERK and a < twofold increase in that of p38 MAPK in an in vivo kinase assay. These inhibitors of MAPKK and MAPK suppressed phosphorylation of ets-like gene-1 (Elk-1) and nuclear activating transcription factor-2 (Atf-2) induced by CTGF/Hcs24 in a dose-dependent manner, respectively. Western blot analysis showed that phosphorylation of ERK was induced from 30 to 60 min and phosphorylation of p38 MAPK from 10 to 15 min after the addition of CTGF/Hcs24 in confluence HCS-2/8 cells. PD098059 suppressed the DNA synthesis of HCS-2/8 cells and RGC cells, while SB203580 did not. On the other hand, the p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB203580, completely inhibited the CTGF/Hcs24-induced synthesis of proteoglycans in HCS-2/8 cells and RGC cells but the MEK1/2 inhibitor, PD098059, did not. These results suggest that ERK mediates the CTGF/Hcs24-induced proliferation of chondrocytes, and that p38 MAPK mediates the CTGF/Hcs24-induced differentiation of chondrocytes.