The effects of hypotonic (180 mOsm) and hypertonic (580 mOsm) medium loading on chondrocyte aggrecan gene expression in 2D monolayer and 3D hydrogel culture (agarose or alginate) were studied. Aggrecan promoter activity was monitored using a luciferase reporter gene assay and transient transfection. Osmotic loading was observed to differentially affect promoter activity, with hypotonic loading generally producing at least a 40% elevation in promoter activity, except for the case of alginate where a 50% suppression was observed. Hypertonic loading produced at least a 35% decrease in activity for all cultures. Similar osmolality-induced changes to aggrecan mRNA levels were observed in monolayer cells using qPCR. Deletion of exon 1 blocked the sensitivity of monolayer cells to hypertonic but not hypotonic medium changes. Confocal microscopy measurements suggested that the degree of hypotonic swelling in cells encapsulated in 3D matrix was restricted compared to monolayer cells whereas the degree of hypertonic shrinking was similar under both culture conditions.
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Adv Sci (Weinh)
March 2025
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement/Key laboratory Grain Crop Genetic Resources Evaluation and Utilization Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, P. R. China.
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March 2025
Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
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Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, China. (Y.E.L., S.L., Litao Wang, Y.D., L. Wu, H.C., T.Z., J.L., S.X., L.L., J.G., J.R., Y.Z.).
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Laboratory of Fruit Biology, College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, No.17, Qinghua East Road, Haidian,Beijing, 100083, China.
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