Early postnatal ablation of the microRNA-processing enzyme, Drosha, causes chondrocyte death and impairs the structural integrity of the articular cartilage.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

In growth plate chondrocytes, loss of Dicer, a microRNA (miRNA)-processing enzyme, causes defects in proliferation and differentiation, leading to a lethal skeletal dysplasia. However roles of miRNAs in articular chondrocytes have not been defined in vivo. To investigate the role of miRNAs in articular chondrocytes and to explore the possibility of generating a novel mouse osteoarthritis (OA) model caused by intrinsic cellular dysfunction, we ablated Drosha, another essential enzyme for miRNA biogenesis, exclusively in articular chondrocytes of postnatal mice.

Design

First, to confirm that the essential role of miRNAs in skeletal development, we ablated the miRNA biogenesis pathway by deleting Drosha or DGCR8 in growth plate chondrocytes. Next, to investigate the r

SUBMITTER: Kobayashi T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4470813 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature