Smith J C, Watt F M
Differentiation. 1985;29(2):109-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-0436.1985.tb00302.x.
The biochemical composition and biosynthetic activity of Xenopus notochord were examined and compared with those of chick and mouse notochord. The notochords of all three species contain type-II collagen, and the notochords of Xenopus and chick synthesize a soluble glycoprotein with a molecular mass of 86 kilodaltons (kd). Mouse embryos were not tested for this molecule, because their notochords are too small to be dissected out. Most interestingly, Xenopus and chick notochords share a keratan-sulphate-containing proteoglycan which appears to be absent from mouse notochord. The presence or absence of keratan sulphate in the notochords of the different species reflects its presence or absence in cartilage. Since one role of the notochord in vivo is to stimulate chondrogenesis in the sclerotomes of the somites, this result provides support for the view that cells responding to the extracellular matrix produced by one tissue do so by increasing their production of the same matrix components.
对非洲爪蟾脊索的生化组成和生物合成活性进行了检测，并与鸡和小鼠的脊索进行了比较。所有这三个物种的脊索都含有II型胶原蛋白，非洲爪蟾和鸡的脊索合成一种分子量为86千道尔顿（kd）的可溶性糖蛋白。未对小鼠胚胎进行该分子的检测，因为它们的脊索太小，无法解剖出来。最有趣的是，非洲爪蟾和鸡的脊索共享一种含硫酸角质素的蛋白聚糖，而小鼠的脊索中似乎没有这种蛋白聚糖。不同物种脊索中硫酸角质素的有无反映了其在软骨中的有无。由于脊索在体内的一个作用是刺激体节硬骨节中的软骨形成，这一结果支持了这样一种观点，即对一种组织产生的细胞外基质做出反应的细胞，是通过增加相同基质成分的产生来实现的。
