Structural differences between bone formed intramuscularly following the transplantation of isolated calvarial bone cells or chondrocytes.

Abstract

Bone formed in intramuscular transplants of isolated syngeneic calvarial bone cells in mice, was compared with endochondral bone induced by cartilage produced by analogous transplants of isolated epiphyseal chondrocytes, as well as with parietal bones forming the bulk of the calvaria. Transplanted calvarial cells produced islands of bone, some of which contained intraosseous cavities. Osteoclasts inside these cavities were observed only in 14-day-old transplants and bone marrow cells in 28-day and older transplants. On the contrary, bone marrow appeared soon after formation of bone trabeculae in endochondral bone. The percentage area occupied by bone marrow in these specimens was about twentyfold larger than in the bone formed by transplanted bone cells. On the other hand, the bone marrow area in the latter type of bone was somewhat smaller but of similar order as in parietal bones. Moreover, both in parietal bones and in bone formed by isolated bone cells, the bone marrow was devoid of fat cells which were numerous in bone arising by endochondral ossification. It appears, therefore, that the ratio of bone marrow to the bone tissue area in parietal bones depends more on the intrinsic properties of osteoblasts than on the local factors in the environment of the developing bone. In the case of bone induced by cartilage, the bone marrow/bone tissue area could be determined both by the extent of cartilage resorption by vascularized tissue and by the properties of osteoblasts.