title: Detection of chondroitin sulfates and decorin in developing fetal and neonatal rat lung.
abstract: Chondroitin sulfates and their related proteoglycans are components of extracellular matrix that act as key determinants of growth and differentiation characteristics of developing lungs. Changes in their immunohistochemical distribution during progressive organ maturation were examined with monospecific antibodies to chondroitin sulfate, a nonbasement membrane chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, and the specific chondroitin sulfate-containing proteoglycan decorin in whole fetuses and lungs from newborn and adult rats. Alveolar and airway extracellular matrix immunostained heavily in the prenatal rat for both chondroitin sulfate and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, whereas decorin was confined to developing airways and vessels. These sites retained their respective levels of reactivity with all antibodies through 1-10 days postnatal but thereafter became progressively more diminished and focal in alveolar regions. The heavy staining seen early in development was interpreted to reflect a significant and wide distribution of chondroitin sulfates, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, and decorin in rapidly growing tissues, whereas the reduced and more focal reactivity observed at later time points coincided with known focal patterns of localization of fibrillar elements of the extracellular matrix and a more differentiated state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Physiological Sciences, and Radiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA.
authors.forename: Yiqiong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Jody
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khosla
authors.forename: Philip L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Sannes
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000378:metabolism*; D058575:Decorin; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008168:Lung / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: C546880:Dcn protein, rat; D058575:Decorin; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D011509:Proteoglycans; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates