Combined Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Identify Regulatory Mechanisms of Porcine Vertebral Chondrocyte Development In Vitro

Abstract

Porcine body length is closely related to meat production, growth, and reproductive performance, thus playing a key role in the profitability of the pork industry. Cartilage development is critical to longitudinal elongation of individual vertebrae. This study isolated primary porcine vertebral chondrocytes (PVCs) to clarify the complex mechanisms of elongation. We used transcriptome and target energy metabolome technologies to confirm crucial genes and metabolites in primary PVCs at different differentiation stages (0, 4, 8, and 12 days). Pairwise comparisons of the four stages identified 4566 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Time-series gene cluster and functional analyses of these DEGs revealed four clusters related to metabolic processes, cartilage development, vascular development, and cell cycle regulation. We constructed a transcriptional regulatory network determining chondrocyte maturation. The network indicated that significantly enriched transcription factor (TF) families, including zf-C2H2, homeobox, TF_bZIP, and RHD, are important in cell cycle and differentiation processes. Further, dynamic network biomarker (DNB) analysis revealed that day 4 was the tipping point for chondrocyte development, consistent with morphological and metabolic changes. We found 24 DNB DEGs, including the TFs NFATC2 and SP7. Targeted energy metabolome analysis showed that most metabolites were elevated throughout chondrocyte development; notably, 16 differentially regulated metabolites (DRMs) were increased at three time points after cell differentiation. In conclusion, integrated metabolome and transcriptome analyses highlighted the importance of amino acid biosynthesis in chondrocyte development, with coordinated regulation of DEGs and DRMs promoting PVC differentiation via glucose oxidation. These findings reveal the regulatory mechanisms underlying PVC development and provide an important theoretical reference for improving pork production.

Metabolomic Profiles and Pathways in Osteoarthritic Human Cartilage: A Comparative Analysis with Healthy Cartilage

“…The imbalanced activity between matrix anabolism and catabolism contributes to the observed changes in AC, other tissues, and fluids affected by OA (i.e., underlying bone, synovium, synovial fluid). Previous studies examined altered metabolism in various OA-associated tissues and their cell types, such as chondrocytes, to investigate disease-associated metabolic activity [7][8][9]. However, significant limitations of many studies are that they were performed in vitro and/or lacked healthy human controls, thereby hindering a complete understanding of the role metabolism plays in OA development.…”