Small membrane-bound extracellular organelles known as articular cartilage matrix vesicles (ACVs) participate in pathologic mineralization in osteoarthritic articular cartilage. ACVs are also present in normal cartilage, although they have no known functions other than mineralization. Recently, RNA was identified in extracellular vesicles derived from mast cells, suggesting that such vesicles might carry coding information from cell to cell. We found that ACVs from normal porcine and human articular cartilage and primary chondrocyte conditioned media contained 1 mu g RNA/80 mu g ACV protein. No DNA could be detected. RT-PCR of ACV RNA demonstrated the presence of full length mRNAs for factor XIIIA, type II transglutaminase, collagen II, aggrecan, ANKH and GAPDH. RNA in intact ACVs was resistant to RNase, despite the fact that ACV preparations contained measurable levels of active RNases. Significantly, radiolabeled RNA in ACVs could be transferred to unlabeled chondrocytes by co-incubation and produced changes in levels of chondrocyte enzymes and proteins. The demonstration that ACVs contain mRNAs suggests that they may function to shuttle genetic information between articular cells and indicate novel functions for these structures in articular cartilage. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.