Chondrocyte transport and concentration of ascorbic acid is mediated by SVCT2

McNulty AL, Vail TP, Kraus VB · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta

Chondrocytes are not passive recipients of vitamin C — they concentrate it 960-fold over the surrounding fluid, by sodium-dependent, temperature-dependent, stereoselective active transport. Silencing the sodium-dependent vitamin C transporter SVCT2 abolished the active component entirely, identifying it as the route in.

Population

Passaged primary human chondrocytes

Intervention

Characterisation of ascorbic acid transport, with SVCT2 knockdown by sequence-specific siRNA

Limitations

Passaged primary cells in culture, which drift from the chondrocyte phenotype. Transport is not synthesis and synthesis is not repair.