. Address offprint requests to K. Kimata.Abstract. The cartilage matrix deficiency (cmd/cmd) mouse fails to synthesize the core protein of cartilagecharacteristic proteoglycan (cartilage PG). Chondrocytes from the cmd/cmd cartilage cultured in vitro produced nodules with greatly reduced extracellular matrix. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that the nodules of mutant cells differed from the normal in lacking cartilage PG and in uneven and reduced deposition of type II collagen. Exogenously added cartilage PG prepared from either normal mouse cartilage or Swarm rat chondrosarcoma to the culture medium was incorporated exclusively into the extracellular matrices of the nodules, with a concurrent correction of the abnormal distribution pattern of type II collagen. The incorporation of cartilage PG into the matrix was disturbed by hyaluronic acid or decasaccharide derived therefrom, suggesting that the incorporation process involves the interaction of added proteoglycan with hyaluronic acid. Both the hyaluronic acid-binding region and the protein-enriched core molecule prepared from rat chondrosarcoma cartilage PG could also be incorporated but, unlike the intact cartilage PG, they were distributed equally in the surrounding zones where fibroblast-like cells predominate. The results indicate that the intact form of cartilage PG is required for specific incorporation into the chondrocyte nodules, and further suggest that cartilage PG plays a regulatory role in the assembly of the matrix macromolecules.T HE extracellular matrix of cartilage is composed primarily of cartilage-characteristic proteoglycan (cartilage PG) t and type II collagen. Cartilage PG is present in the matrix as high molecular weight aggregates in which proteoglycan monomers bind specifically to hyaluronic acid at regular intervals through stabilization by link protein (8). Type II collagen molecules also are assembled to form fibrils with characteristic size and morphology (for review, see reference 33).Cartilage matrix deficiency (cmd/cmd) is an autosomal recessive lethal mutation in mice resulting in a syndrome including disproportionate dwarfism, short snout, and cleft palate (26). These abnormalities have been shown to result from failure in the synthesis of cartilage PG core protein (15). Other matrix components, such as type II collagen, small proteoglycans, hyaluronic acid, and link protein are synthesized nearly at normal rates (3,15,18). Therefore, the cell culture of cmd/cmd chondrocytes provides a useful system in which the function in matrix assembly of cartilage PG may be studied. We show here that cmd/cmd chondrocytes in monolayer culture exhibit an abnormal extracellular matrix and that the abnormality could be corrected by adding cartilage PG to the culture medium. Evidence is presented to show that the exogenous cartilage PG is integrated into the matrix of mutant chondrocytes through the processes in which the interactions of an intact form of cartilage PG with the other matrix molecules are involved.
Abbreviations used in thi...