Chondrogenesis in Tissue Cultures of Muscle Under the Influence of a Diffusible Component of Bone Matrix

Abstract

Summary Under the influence of a diffusible molecule in bone matrix gelatin (BMG), connective tissue-cell outgrowths of neonatal rat muscle in tissue culture differentiate into cartilage. The muscle explant was suspended on a cellulose acetate membrane and separated from the BMG by a wire-grid platform and 2 ml of culture medium. Cartilage differentiated even when the BMG was removed from the system, within the first 24 hr of culture. Cultures transplanted on the seventh day into a muscle pouch in syngeneic recipients for an additional 14 days produced deposits of cartilage and woven bone.