Significant role of adhesion properties of primary osteoblast-like cells in early adhesion events for chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate surface molecules

The purpose of this study was to characterize the role of cell surface adhesive macromolecules through enzyme modulation and metabolic recovery prior to and during a kinetic cell adhesion assay. Primary rat calvarial osteoblast‐like cells were derived from Sprague–Dawley calvarial plates. Cell adhesion kinetics was evaluated with the definition of first‐order adhesion kinetics. Osteoblasts were incubated in an adhesion buffer for 1 h prior to a cell attachment assay using various enzymes to remove cell surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). A subtractive adhesion analysis was performed by plating cells at 5 × 104/well for variable periods through 2 h. The medium was collected, the well surface washed and pooled, and the number of cells enumerated with a Coulter Counter. Cell adhesion demonstrated first‐order logarithmic adhesion kinetics in the first 60 min. Scatchard analysis demonstrated a linear relationship. Preexposure of cells to various enzyme combinations demonstrated that 50% of the equilibrium adhesion was dependent on chondroitin sulfate or dermatan sulfate surface macromolecules. These results were confirmed with pretreatment with a metabolic inhibitor of GAG synthesis (β‐d‐xyloside). These results suggest an important role for cell associated chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate in cell adhesion in addition to Arg‐Gly‐Asp or integrin mediated adhesion events. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 47, 345–352, 1999.