IWAMOTO , Masahiro

Syndecans are single-pass integral membrane components that serve as co-receptors for growth factors and cytokines and can elicit signal transduction via their cytoplasmic tails. We review here previous studies from our groups on syndecan-3 biology and function in the growth plates of developing long bones in chick and mouse embryos. Gain- and...

Objective: Runx2 (also known as Cbfa1) is a transcription factor required for chondrocyte maturation and osteoblast differentiation. While there is information on the regulation of its expression during osteogenesis, much less is known about it during cartilage maturation. Here we asked whether Runx2 expression and function are affected by...

Hedgehog proteins exert critical roles in embryogenesis and require heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HS-PGs) for action. Indian hedgehog (Ihh) is produced by prehypertrophic chondrocytes in developing long bones and regulates chondrocyte proliferation and other events, but it is not known whether it requires HS-PGs for function. Because the HS-PG...