title: Chondrocyte cultures from human proximal interphalangeal finger joints.
abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand is a common disease resulting in pain and impaired function. The pathogenesis of hand OA (HOA) is elusive and models to study it have not been described. Chondrocyte culture has been essential to understand cartilage degeneration, which is a hallmark of OA. We investigated the feasibility of human chondrocyte culture derived from proximal interphalangeal (PIP) finger joints. Hyaline cartilage of the PIP and knee joints was obtained from human cadavers. Chondrocytes harvested up to 236 h after death of the donors were viable and expressed chondrocyte-specific genes. Gene expression comparing chondrocytes from PIP and knee joints using Affymetrix GeneChip arrays resulted in a unique PIP-specific gene expression pattern. Genes involved in developmental processes including the WNT pathway were differentially expressed between the joints. These findings suggest that our knowledge on chondrocyte biology derived mainly from knee and hip joints may not apply to chondrocytes of the PIP joints and some of the distinctive features of HOA may be caused by the specific properties of PIP chondrocytes. Chondrocyte culture of PIP cartilage is a novel tool to study cartilage degeneration in HOA. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 34:1569-1575, 2016.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Martin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Stradner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dreu
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Angerer
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Research (ZMF), Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Peischler
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Krischan
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leithner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anderhuber
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Medical University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Winfried B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Graninger
mesh_terms: D019902:Chondrocytes; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005384:Finger Joint / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D061251:Primary Cell Culture
keywords: WNT signaling; chondrocyte; hand osteoarthritis