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Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science 38:25-30 (2008)
© 2008 Association of Clinical Scientists

The Expression of Neurofibromin in Human Osteoblasts and Chondrocytes

Hui Chen1,*, Yong Qiu1, Leilei Chen2, Lei Li2, Junhao Chen2, Chaoying Zhang3, Bin Wang1, Yang Yu1, Zezhang Zhu1, Feng Zhu1, Bangping Qian1 and Weiwei Ma1
1 Spine Surgery Department and 2 Central Laboratory, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, and 3 Department of Biology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

Address correspondence to Yong Qiu, M.D., Spine Surgery, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing 210008, China; tel 86 25 8310 5121; fax 86-25-83105121; e-mail scoliosis2002{at}sina.com.

The goal of this study was to determine if neurofibromin is expressed in cultured human osteoblasts and chondrocytes that were isolated from ilia and ilial growth plate. Purity of the osteoblast and chondrocyte cultures was confirmed by alkaline phosphatase and toluidine blue staining, respectively. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect neurofibromin mRNA. Indirect immunofluorescence and Western blot studies were done to delineate the cellular distribution and expression levels of neurofibromin. These experiments show that neurofibromin is expressed at low levels in human osteoblasts and chondrocytes and is located mainly in the cytoplasm. Only the type II isoform of neurofibromin is detected in these cells. These findings suggest that the type II isoform of neurofibromin plays a physiological role in human osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Whether functional deficiency of neurofibromin is responsible for skeletal abnormalities remains to be established.

Keywords: neurofibromin, osteoblast, chondrocyte, neurofibromatosis-1, von Recklinghausen disease






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