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Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is a unique cytokine that induces bony tissue in soft tissue. Tissue reactions at and around the implantation of recombinant human BMP-2 (rhBMP-2) into the soft tissue of rats and nonhuman primates were investigated. At the osteoinduced site of rats, massive trabeculae-lined osteoblasts and rich marrow were observed. At and around the nonosteoinduced sites of nonhuman primates, large clear nuclei were observed in reaction to rhBMP-2 implantation. The surrounding area was visually classified into zones 1, 2 and 3. Zone 3 was near the center of the implant. The area of nuclei, the major axis, the minor axis and the ratio of minor axis per major axis were image-analyzed in the histological views. In zones 1, 2 and 3, the nuclear areas were 18.0 (3.1) mean (SD); unit micron2, 33.4 (5.61) and 110.1 (23.7), respectively. The major axes of nuclear ellipses were 7.45 (0.22) (unit micron), 7.76 (0.26), and 13.9 (1.88), respectively. The minor axes were 3.07 (0.53), 5.59 (0.95) and 10.1 (1.35), respectively. The ratios of minor axis per major axis of nuclear ellipses were 0.4 (0.57), 0.72 (0.11) and 0.73 (0.11) in zones 1, 2 and 3, respectively. These results showed that in zones 2 and 3 cell and tissue reactions were marked against rhBMP-2 implantation.

The anion transport activity of the human erythrocyte anion transporter (band 3; AE1) has been examined in both normal and glycophorin A (GPA)- deficient (MkMk) human red blood cells (RBCs). The sulfate transport activity of MkMk cells (from two ethnically diverse sources) was approximately 60% that of normal erythrocytes under the transport assay conditions used. However, MkMk and normal RBCs contained similar amounts of band 3. The reduction in sulfate transport activity was shown to be caused by an increase in the apparent Km for sulfate in MkMk RBCs, suggesting the band 3 in the MkMk RBCs has a lowered binding affinity for sulfate anions. The size of the N-glycan chain on band 3 of the MkMk cells was larger than that on band 3 from normal RBCs. In contrast, the size of the N-glycan chain on the glucose transporter (GLUT1) from MkMk cells was smaller than that on GLUT1 from normal cells. The possible role of GPA in the biosynthesis and anion transport activity of band 3 in normal RBCs is discussed.