A comparative analysis of the differential spatial and temporal distributions of the large (aggrecan, versican) and small (decorin, biglycan, fibromodulin) proteoglycans of the intervertebral disc

This study provides a comparative analysis of the temporal and spatial dist ribution of 5 intervertebral disc (IVD) proteoglycans (PGs) in sheep. The m ain PGs in the 2 and 10 y old sheep groups were polydisperse chondroitin su lphate and keratan sulphate substituted species. Their proportions did not differ markedly either with spinal level or disc zone. In contrast, the fet al discs contained 2 slow migrating (by composite agarose polyacrylamide ge l electrophoresis, CAPAGE), relatively monodisperse chondroitin sulphate-ri ch aggrecan species which were also identified by monoclonal antibody 7-D-4 to an atypical chondroitin sulphate isomer presentation previously found i n chick limb bud, and shark cartilage. The main small PG detectable in the fetal discs was biglycan, whereas decorin predominated in the 2 and 10 y ol d IVD samples! its levels were highest in the outer annulus fibrosus (AF). Versican was most abundant in the AF of the fetal sheep group; it was signi ficantly less abundant in the 2 and 10 y old groups. Furthermore, versican was immunolocalised between adjacent layers of annular lamellae suggesting that it may have some role in the provision of the viscoelastic properties to this tissue. Versican was also diffusely distributed throughout the nucl eus pulposus of fetal IVDs, and its levels were significantly lower in adul t IVD specimens. This is the first study to identify versican in ovine IVD tissue sections and confirmed an earlier study which demonstrated that ovin e IVD cells synthesised versican in culture (Melrose et al. 2000). The vari able distribution of the PGs identified in this study provides further evid ence of differences in phenotypic expression of IVD cell populations during growth and development and further demonstrates the complexity of the PGs in this heterogeneous but intricately organised connective tissue.