Previous studies have shown that osteoblasts are sensitive to surface roughness. When cultured on Ti, MG63 osteoblast-like cells exhibit decreased proliferation and increased differentiation with increasing surface roughness. In vivo, osteoblasts also are subjected to shear force during osseointegration. To examine how shear force modulates osteoblast response to surface roughness, MG63 cells were cultured on glass disks or Ti disks with three different R(a) values and topographies (PT: R(a) = 0.60 microm; SLA: R(a) = 3.97 microm; TPS: R(a) = 5.21 microm) in a continuous flow device, resulting in shear forces of 0, 1, 5, 14, and 30 dynes/cm(2). Confluent cultures were exposed to fluid flow for 1 h. After an additional 23 h, cell number, alkaline-phosphatase-specific activity, and levels of osteocalcin, TGF-beta1, and PGE2 in the conditioned media were determined. Cell numbers on smooth surfaces (glass and PT) were unaffected by shear force. In contrast, shear force caused a dose-dependent reversal of the decrease in cell numbers seen on rough SLA and TPS surfaces. Alkaline-phosphatase-specific activity was unaffected on glass or PT, but shear force caused a biphasic reduction in the roughness-dependent increase on SLA and TPS that was maximal at 14 dynes/cm(2). There was a similar effect seen with TGF-beta1 levels. Osteocalcin was unaffected on smooth surfaces; shear force caused a dose-dependent reduction in the roughness-stimulated increase seen on SLA and TPS. PGE2 production was increased by shear force on all surfaces. There was a twofold increase in PGE2 levels in the media of MG63 cells cultured on glass and PT in response to 14 dynes/cm(2), but on SLA and TPS, 14 dynes/cm(2) shear force caused a 9-10-fold increase. These results show that osteoblastic response to shear force is modulated by surface topography. The shear-force-mediated decrease in osteoblast differentiation seen in cultures on rough surfaces may be due to increased production of PGE2.

The solid-state photo-chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) effect generates non-equilibrium nuclear spin polarization in frozen electron-transfer proteins upon illumination and radical-pair formation. The effect can be observed in various natural photosynthetic reaction center proteins using magic-angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and in a flavin-binding light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domain of the blue-light receptor phototropin. In the latter system, a functionally instrumental cysteine has been mutated to interrupt the natural cysteine-involving photochemistry allowing for an electron transfer from a more distant tryptophan to the excited flavin mononucleotide chromophore. We explored the solid-state photo-CIDNP effect and its mechanisms in phototropin-LOV1-C57S from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by using field-cycling solution NMR. We observed the 13C and, to our knowledge, for the first time, 15N photo-CIDNP signals from phototropin-LOV1-C57S. Additionally, the 1H photo-CIDNP signals of residual water in the deuterated buffer of the protein were detected. The relative strengths of the photo-CIDNP effect from the three types of nuclei, 1H, 13C and 15N were measured in dependence of the magnetic field, showing their maximum polarizations at different magnetic fields. Theoretical level crossing analysis demonstrates that anisotropic mechanisms play the dominant role at high magnetic fields.

The severe dystroglycanopathy known as a form of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2P) is an autosomal recessive disease caused by the point mutation T192M in α-dystroglycan. Functional expression analysis in vitro and in vivo indicated that the mutation was responsible for a decrease in posttranslational glycosylation of dystroglycan, eventually interfering with its extracellular-matrix receptor function and laminin binding in skeletal muscle and brain. The X-ray crystal structure of the missense variant T190M of the murine N-terminal domain of α-dystroglycan (50-313) has been determined, and showed an overall topology (Ig-like domain followed by a basket-shaped domain reminiscent of the small subunit ribosomal protein S6) very similar to that of the wild-type structure. The crystallographic analysis revealed a change of the conformation assumed by the highly flexible loop encompassing residues 159–180. Moreover, a solvent shell reorganization around Met190 affects the interaction between the B1–B5 anti-parallel strands forming part of the floor of the basket-shaped domain, with likely repercussions on the folding stability of the protein domain(s) and on the overall molecular flexibility. Chemical denaturation and limited proteolysis experiments point to a decreased stability of the T190M variant with respect to its wild-type counterpart. This mutation may render the entire L-shaped protein architecture less flexible. The overall reduced flexibility and stability may affect the functional properties of α-dystroglycan via negatively influencing its binding behavior to factors needed for dystroglycan maturation, and may lay the molecular basis of the T190M-driven primary dystroglycanopathy.

Osteoblasts are exposed to fluid shear in vivo but the effects are not well understood, particularly how substrate properties or length of exposure modify the response. Short exposure (1 h) to shear reduces the stimulatory effect of micron-scale surface structure on osteoblast differentiation, but the effects of longer term exposures are not known. To test the hypothesis that substrate-dependent responses of osteoblasts to shear depend on the length of exposure to fluid flow, MG63 osteoblasts were grown on tissue culture glass, which has an average roughness (Ra) < 0.2 microm; machined Ti disks (PT, Ra < 0.6 microm); Ti disks with a complex microarchitecture [sand blasted acid etched (SLA), Ra = 4-5 microm); and Ti plasma-sprayed surfaces [Ti via plasma spray (TPS), Ra = 7 microm]. Confluent cultures were exposed to pulsatile flow at shear forces of 0, 1, and 14 dynes/cm(2) for 0, 6, 12, and 24 h. Shear reduced cell number on all surfaces, with greatest effects on TPS. Shear had no effect on alkaline phosphatase on smooth surfaces but increased enzyme activity on SLA and TPS in a time-dependent manner. Its effects on osteocalcin, TGF-beta1, and PGE(2) in the conditioned media were greatest on these surfaces as well. Responses to fluid-induced shear were blocked by the general Cox inhibitor indomethacin and the Cox-2 inhibitor meloxicam, indicating that response to shear is mediated by prostaglandin produced via a Cox-2 dependent mechanism. These results show that the effects of fluid induced shear change with time and are substrate dependent, suggesting that substrate microarchitecture regulates the osteoblast phenotype and effects of shear are determined by the maturation state of the responding population.