Galactose Enhances Chondrogenic Differentiation of ATDC5 and Cartilage Matrix Formation by Chondrocytes

Zhongrun Yuan; Sa Liu; Wenjing Song; Ying Liu; Gangyuan Bi; Renjian Xie; Li Ren

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2022.850778

Galactose Enhances Chondrogenic Differentiation of ATDC5 and Cartilage Matrix Formation by Chondrocytes

Front Mol Biosci. 2022 May 9:9:850778. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.850778. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhongrun Yuan^{1

2

3}, Sa Liu^{1

2

3}, Wenjing Song^{1

2

3}, Ying Liu^{1

2

3}, Gangyuan Bi^{2

3

4}, Renjian Xie^{5

6

7}, Li Ren^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
² National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
³ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases, Ministry of Education, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁶ School of Medical Information Engineering, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁷ Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Medical Tissue Engineering Materials and Biofabrication, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.

Abstract

Galactose, an important carbohydrate nutrient, is involved in several types of cellular metabolism, participating in physiological activities such as glycosaminoglycan (GAG) synthesis, glycosylation, and intercellular recognition. The regulatory effects of galactose on osteoarthritis have attracted increased attention. In this study, in vitro cell models of ATDC5 and chondrocytes were prepared and cultured with different concentrations of galactose to evaluate its capacity on chondrogenesis and cartilage matrix formation. The cell proliferation assay demonstrated that galactose was nontoxic to both ATDC5 cells and chondrocytes. RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining indicated that the gene expressions of cartilage matrix type II collagen and aggrecan were significantly upregulated with increasing galactose concentration and the expression and accumulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein. Overall, these results indicated that a galactose concentration below 8 mM exhibited the best effect on promoting chondrogenesis, which entitles galactose as having considerable potential for cartilage repair and regeneration.

Keywords: Leloir pathway; cartilage matrix formation; cartilage repair; chondrogenesis; galactose; glycosaminoglycan.