LOCALIZATION OF CARBOXY-TERMINAL TYPE-II PROCOLLAGEN PEPTIDE (PCOL-II-C) AND TYPE-II COLLAGEN IN THE REPAIR TISSUE OF FULL-THICKNESS ARTICULAR-CARTILAGE DEFECT
H. Nakajima et al., LOCALIZATION OF CARBOXY-TERMINAL TYPE-II PROCOLLAGEN PEPTIDE (PCOL-II-C) AND TYPE-II COLLAGEN IN THE REPAIR TISSUE OF FULL-THICKNESS ARTICULAR-CARTILAGE DEFECT, Connective tissue research (Print), 37(3-4), 1998, pp. 195
It is well established that a full-thickness articular cartilage defec
t is repaired with a fibrocartilaginous tissue of which cells are deri
ved from undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow. T
o characterize the repair tissue immunohistochemically, full-thickness
defects were created in rabbit knee joints, and the repair tissues im
munostained at 3, 6, and 12 weeks after surgery. Well characterized po
lyclonal antibody against carboxyterminal type II procollagen peptide
(pCOL-II-C) and monoclonal antibody against type II collagen were used
to evaluate the repair tissue with regard to the metabolism of type I
I collagen. Immunohistochemistry revealed that pCOL-II-C was localized
in or around most of the repair cells obtained at 3 and 6 weeks after
surgery, while type II collagen distributed mainly in the pericellula
r matrix of metaplastic round-shaped repair cells. The results suggest
that the repair cells taken at the early stage of the repair process
of the defect could originally have more activity of type II collagen
synthesis.