Endogenous retinoids in mammalian growth plate cartilage: analysis and roles in matrix homeostasis and turnover.

ABSTRACT: The growth plate contains resting and proliferating chondrocytes in its upper zones (UGP) and maturing and hypertrophic chondrocytes in its lower zones (LGP), but the mechanisms by which it operates to sustain skeletal growth are not fully clear. Retinoid signaling was previously found to be nearly absent in UGP, but to be much stronger in LGP coincident with hypertrophy, extracellular matrix turnover and endochondral bone formation. To determine whether such distinct signaling levels and phenotypic events reflect different endogenous retinoid levels, the upper two-thirds and lower one-third of rabbit rib growth plates were microsurgically isolated and processed for ultrasensitive retinoid LC-tandem MS quantification. Indeed, the UGP samples contained only about a 0.6 nm concentration of a

SUBMITTER: Williams JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2978596 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature