DIAMETRIC GROWTH OF THE EPIPHYSIAL PLATE

Abstract

1. Diametric growth and organisation of the epiphysial cartilage plate have been studied by microradiography of human bone and autoradiography of the epiphysial plate in growing rabbits, using sulphur35. These investigations were supplemented by a radiographic study of four patients with dyschondroplasia in whom the progress of the characteristic epiphysial defects were traced during several years' growth. 2. A perichondrial sheath of bone, at the junction of the epiphysial plate with the metaphysis, was demonstrated by microradiography of the distal end of the human femur. Its relationship to epiphysial growth is discussed. 3. Autoradiography, to determine the direction of the cellular proliferation between the epiphysial plate and the overlying perichondrium, demonstrated the appearance of new cartilage cells at the periphery of the plate over a period of six days. 4. The evidence presented strongly favours the postulate that the transverse diameter of the epiphysial cartilage plate increases by appositional growth from the overlying perichondrium and that the same source is responsible for lateral extension of the articular cartilage during growth.