Stimulation of proteoglycan synthesis in chick embryo sternum by serum and L-3,5,3'-triiodothyronine.

Incorporation of sulfate into alcian blue-precipitable glycosaminoglycan of 12-day-old chick embryo sterna is stimulated by addition, separately or together, of normal human serum and physiological concentrations of thyroid hormones (Audhya, T.K., and Gibson, K.D. (1975) Proc. Natl. Acad, Sci. U. S. A. 72, 604--608). We present evidence that this stimulation is due to increased synthesis of at least one proteoglycan, with minor alterations in the size and chemical composition of the glycosaminoglycans. Pulse-chase experiments showed no detectable loss of label during the chase, in control sterna or sterna incubated with serum and L-3,5,3'-triiodothyronine; thus, all incorporation was the result of synthesis of glycosaminoglycans. In double-label experiments, with 35SO4(2-) and [3H]acetate, the molar ratio of 3H and 35S incorporated into glycosaminoglycans was changed little, if at all, by addition of serum or triiodothyronine or both, at concentrations which increased incorporation up to 2-fold. Glycosaminoglycans isolated from these and other incubations gave similar elution patterns from agarose columns, and identical electrophoretic patterns on cellulose acetate. Digestion with chondroitinase ABC (chondroitin ABC lyase; EC 4.2.2.4.) showed that incorporation was into chondroitin sulfate and possibly hyaluronic acid, and that the proportions of non-sulfated, 4-sulfated, and 6-sulfated disaccharide units differed little between stimulated and unstimulated sterna. Incorporation of [3H]serine into glycosaminoglycans from papain digest of sterna paralleled incorporation of 35SO4(2-), and indicated a number average molecular weight between 21,000 and 25,000 for the newly synthesized chondroitin sulfate. This value was confirmed by gel filtration chromatography, which also showed that the average molecular weight of the newly synthesized chondroitin sulfate decreased up to 15% under conditions of 2-fold stimulation. Proteoglycans were extracted from sterna incubated with [3H]serine and 35SO4(2-) and analyzed by isopycinic centrifugation in CsCl and by zone sedimentation in a sucrose gradient. A major proteoglycan fraction could be separated by either method. Incorporation of both isotopes into this proteoglycan fraction, and into glycosaminoglycans isolated after papain digestion, was stimulated in a coordinate manner. Almost identical results were obtained with both separation techniques. The results indicate that the synthesis of the major proteoglycan, and probably also of a minor one, is stimulated by serum and triiodothyronine.