OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to measure the concentration of bone marrow extracellular matrix thrombospondin in mice, following hypoplasia induced by protein malnutrition. METHODS: Two-month-old male Swiss mice were submitted to protein malnutrition by way of a low-protein diet containing 4.0% casein until they lost 20.0% of their original body weight, while the control group mice were fed 14.0% casein for 15 days. The bone marrows of the animals were aspirated and transferred to phosphate-buffered saline tubes for extraction. The extracellular matrix protein was analyzed by 7.5% SDS-PAGE and thrombospondin by Enhanced Chemiluminescence Light Western blotting. RESULTS: The amount of thrombospondin was 30% higher in the undernourished samples when compared to the control samples. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the hypoplasia induced by protein malnutrition probably alters the functioning of the bone marrow microenvironment resulting in a higher thrombospondin concentration.
bone marrow; extracellular matrix; hypoplasia; protein malnutrition; thrombospondin
