Intercellular communication allows the co-ordination of cell metabolism between tissues as well as sensitivity to extracellular stimuli. Paracrine stimulation and cell-to-cell coupling through gap junctions induce the formation of complex cellular networks that favour the intercellular exchange of nutrients and second messengers. Heterologous intercellular communication was studied in co-cultures of articular chondrocytes and HIG-82 synovial cells by measuring mechanically induced cytosolic changes in Ca2+ ion levels by digital fluorescence video imaging. In confluent co-cultures, mechanical stimulation induced intercellular Ca2+ waves that propagated to both cell types with similar kinetics. Intercellular wave spreading was inhibited by 18α-glycyrrhetinic acid and by treatments inhibiting the activation of purinoreceptors, suggesting that intercellular signalling between these two cell types occurs both through gap junctions and ATP-mediated paracrine stimulation. In rheumatoid arthritis the formation of the synovial pannus induces structural changes at the chondrosynovial junction, where chondrocyte and synovial cells come into close apposition: these results provide the first evidence for direct intercellular communication between these two cell types.
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February 1998
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Research Article|
February 01 1998
Intercellular calcium signalling between chondrocytes and synovial cells in co-culture
Paola D'ANDREA;
Paola D'ANDREA
1
1Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Chimica delle Macromolecole, Università di Trieste, via Licio Giorgieri 1, I-34127 Trieste, Italy
1To whom correspondence should be addressed.
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Alessandra CALABRESE;
Alessandra CALABRESE
1Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Chimica delle Macromolecole, Università di Trieste, via Licio Giorgieri 1, I-34127 Trieste, Italy
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Micaela GRANDOLFO
Micaela GRANDOLFO
1Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Chimica delle Macromolecole, Università di Trieste, via Licio Giorgieri 1, I-34127 Trieste, Italy
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
July 09 1997
Revision Received:
August 28 1997
Accepted:
October 02 1997
Online ISSN: 1470-8728
Print ISSN: 0264-6021
The Biochemical Society, London © 1998
1998
Biochem J (1998) 329 (3): 681–687.
Article history
Received:
July 09 1997
Revision Received:
August 28 1997
Accepted:
October 02 1997
Citation
Paola D'ANDREA, Alessandra CALABRESE, Micaela GRANDOLFO; Intercellular calcium signalling between chondrocytes and synovial cells in co-culture. Biochem J 1 February 1998; 329 (3): 681–687. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bj3290681
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