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Review
. 2012 Jul;69(13):2101-7.
doi: 10.1007/s00018-011-0911-3. Epub 2012 Jan 13.

The primary cilium as a dual sensor of mechanochemical signals in chondrocytes

Hayat Muhammad  1 , Yoach Rais, Nicolai Miosge, Efrat Monsonego Ornan
Affiliations
Review

The primary cilium as a dual sensor of mechanochemical signals in chondrocytes

Hayat Muhammad et al. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2012 Jul.

Abstract

The primary cilium is an immotile, solitary, and microtubule-based structure that projects from cell surfaces into the extracellular environment. The primary cilium functions as a dual sensor, as mechanosensors and chemosensors. The primary cilia coordinate several essential cell signaling pathways that are mainly involved in cell division and differentiation. A primary cilium malfunction can result in several human diseases. Mechanical loading is sense by mechanosensitive cells in nearly all tissues and organs. With this sensation, the mechanical signal is further transduced into biochemical signals involving pathways such as Akt, PKA, FAK, ERK, and MAPK. In this review, we focus on the fundamental functional and structural features of primary cilia in chondrocytes and chondrogenic cells.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Electron micrograph of the primary cilium (Ax), the distal (Dc), and proximal (Pc) centriole. Bar 500 nm. b Cross section of the proximal centriole. Bar 100 nm. Reprinted from Jensen et al. (1979) with permission. c Schematic presentation of the primary cilium with membrane signaling molecules that were described in it. d Human articular chondrocytes and f CPCs stained with acetylated α-tubulin (tb, green) Abs to detect primary cilia (arrows), phalloidin (ph, red) and DAPI (DAPI, blue). e Tissue from the late stage of human OA exhibits surface fissures and cell clusters (the arrow indicates the tidemark). Breaks in the tidemark are filled with blood vessels, and the bone marrow is visible underneath the OA tissue. Reprinted from Koelling et al. [92] with permission from the publisher
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