Abstract
Vascular and cellular invasion into the cartilage is a critical step in the fracture healing. Matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) is a member of the zinc-dependent endopeptidase family and plays an important role in remodeling of extracellular matrix. Therefore we investigated the possible involvement of MMP-13 in a murine model of stabilized bone fracture healing. Repair of the fracture in MMP-13 deficient (MMP-13-/-) mice was significantly delayed and characterized by a retarded cartilage resorption in the fracture callus. Immunohistochemistry indicated severe defects in vascular penetration and chondroclast recruitment to the fracture callus in MMP-13-/- mice. Consistent with the observations, the chondrocyte pellets cultured from the MMP13-/- mice exhibited diminished angiogenic activities when the pellets were co-cultured with endothelial cells. These results suggest that MMP-13 is crucial to the process of angiogenesis during healing of fracture, especially in the cartilage resorption process.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 846-851 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |
Volume | 354 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2007 Mar 23 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Angiogenesis
- Chondroclast
- Extracellular matrix
- Fracture healing
- MMP-13
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology