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Hyaluronate depolymerization activity induced by progesterone in cultured fibroblasts derived from human uterine cervix
Author(s) -
Tanaka Kanji,
Nakamura Toshiya,
Ikeya Hitoshi,
Higuchi Tsuyoshi,
Tanaka Akihiro,
Morikawa Akiko,
Saito Yoshiharu,
Takagaki Keiichi,
Endo Masahiko
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(94)00517-6
Subject(s) - depolymerization , cervix , uterine cervix , chemistry , incubation , fibroblast , endocrinology , andrology , medicine , biology , in vitro , biochemistry , carcinoma , polymer chemistry , cancer
High‐molecular‐weight [ 14 C]hyaluronate was incubated with cultured fibroblasts from human uterine cervix and skin, and then the depolymerization of the hyaluronate was investigated. [ 14 C]Hyaluronate in the medium of skin fibroblasts was depolymerized into a constant molecular weight ( M r about 40,000), whereas that of cervix fibroblasts was not depolymerized, irrespective of incubation period. However, when progesterone was added to the medium of cervix fibroblasts, hyaluronate was depolymerized to the same extent as that in skin fibroblasts. The reducing terminal sugar of the depolymerized hyaluronate was N ‐acetylglucosamine. These results suggest that a hyaluronate‐depolymerizing enzyme, endo‐β‐ N ‐acetylglucosaminidase, was induced by progesterone in cultured fibroblasts derived from human uterine cervix.