Comparative studies of osteoblast and fibroblast type I collagen in a patient with osteogenesis imperfecta type IV

The expression of type I collagen has been compared in fibroblast and osteoblast cultures of a patient with moderately severe osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) type IV, with respect to control cells. Electrophoretic analysis of type I collagen showed that both OI osteoblasts and fibroblasts synthesized normal chains and chains with delayed migration. However, the osteoblasts contained a higher proportion of abnormal chains than fibroblasts from the proband. Pulse‐chase experiments showed that the trimers containing abnormal chains were cleared more rapidly from osteoblasts than fibroblasts. Moreover, the collagen secreted by OI osteoblasts had thermal stability 1°C higher than collagen secreted by OI fibroblasts. These results suggest that the abnormal collagen in osteoblasts may be more resistant to intra‐ and extracellular degradation and may thus have better survival than in fibroblasts. This finding could have implications for understanding the clinical phenotype of OI. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.