Chondroitin sulfate synthesis by mouse embryonic, extraembryonic, and teratoma cells in vitro

Abstract

Sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) synthesis by primary cultures of embryo, yolk sac, and trophoblast was compared with synthesis by the same tissues in utero. In general, the in vivo and in vitro results were in good agreement. As was the case in vivo, the three tissues synthesized chondroitin-4-sulfate and chondroitin-6-sulfate (but no dematan sulfate) at characteristic ratios. Cultured embryos are already capable of synthesizing chondroitin sulfates, primarily chondroitin-4-sulfate, before, or at, the 64-cell stage. During the attachment and initiation of outgrowth stages, blastocysts synthesize more chondroitin-6-sulfate than chondroitin-4-sulfate. Thereafter, progressively more chondroitin-4-sulfate is synthesized so that the 4:6 ratio increases, resembling that of trophoblast cells. Blastocyst-derived cell lines and teratoma cell cultures were also studied. One blastocyst-derived line, MB4, synthesized GAG with a pattern similar to that of yolk sac, which it resembles biochemically in other respects as well. The GAG profile of MB2, a parietal endoderm-like cell line resembled neither that of embryo, yolk sac, nor trophoblast cells. Embryonal carcinoma (undifferentiated teratoma) cells had a chondroitin sulfate pattern different from that of most of the other cultures.