Transmission and scanning electron microscope studies of calcified cartilage resorption

Abstract

The authors' previous report (Savostin‐Asling and Asling, 1973) demonstrated that Meckel's cartilage is a favorable site for study of calcified cartilage resorption. In the present study the ultrastructural features at this resorption front have been examined by transmission and scanning electron microscopes (19‐day rat fetus). Multinucleated giant cells (chondroclasts) dominated the erosion front. The many features which they showed in common with osteoclasts included abundant mitochondria, vacuolation, lysosomes, sparsity of roughsurfaced endoplasmic reticulum, and deep infoldings at loci of contact with calcified matrix. Crumbling of matrix (with mineral crystals penetrating between these foldings) and fragmentation of collagen fibrils were also seen. The propensity of chondroclasts for spanning several opened lacunae provided special opportunity to demonstrate cell surface modifications in presence or absence of matrix contact. Ameboid processes extending into lacunae were seen by both transmission and scanning procedures; they were sometimes tipped with a veil of filamentous processes as small as 0.3 μm in diameter. Most hypertrophic chondrocytes, when released from lacunae, appeared to be disintegrating. However, in accord with previous evidence of their possible merger with chondroclasts (in light microscopic studies) there was also evidence for breakdown of cell walls between a chondroclast and a chondrocyte in intimate contact, with possibility of cytoplasmic continuity.