In vitro effects of caffeine in growth cartilage of rats.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the in vitro effetcs of caffeine on proliferation, apoptosis a nd gene transcripts expression of chondrogenic differentiation in growth cartilage.


METHODS
THE CARTILAGINOUS EPIPHYSES OF FEMURS OF NEWBORN RATS, WHICH WERE DIVIDED INTO TWO SUBGROUPS: treated with caffeine and control group, both observed over the time periods of 0, 7, 14 and 21 days. The cartilaginous epiphyses of femurs of each subgroup and each time span were subjected to histomorphometric, immunohistochemical analysis, Tunel technique and RT-PCR in real time.


RESULTS
The decrease in proliferative activity and the increase of apoptotic chondroblasts at 21 days were found regardless of the subgroup. However, the decrease in cell proliferation caused by caffeine was lower than in the control group and significantly increased the expression of gene transcripts for chondrogenic differentiation, represented by Sox-9 and Runx-2. However, the in vitro culture with caffeine revealed antagonistic effects: despite the positive effect on chondroblasts proliferation and differentiation, caffeine increased apoptosis, characterized by increased expression of caspase 3 and of the number of cells undergoing apoptosis (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Caffeine presents antagonistic effects in vitro on growth cartilage, increasing the proliferation, differentiation and cell apoptosis. Experimental Study .
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Amanda Maria Sena
AM
Reis
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Raquel Viana
RV
Raad
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Natália de Melo
Nde M
Ocarino
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Rogéria
R
Serakides
Apoptosis; Caffeine; Cartilage; Cell differentiation; Cell proliferation