Lui Julian C, Nilsson Ola, Baron Jeffrey
Endocr Dev. 2011;21:23-29. doi: 10.1159/000328117. Epub 2011 Aug 22.
Longitudinal bone growth is rapid in prenatal and early postnatal life, but then slows with age and eventually ceases. This growth deceleration is caused primarily by a decrease in chondrocyte proliferation, and is associated with other structural, functional, and molecular changes collectively termed growth plate senescence. Current evidence suggests that growth plate senescence occurs because the progenitor chondrocytes in the resting zone have a limited replicative capacity which is gradually exhausted with increasing cell division. In addition, recent experimental findings from laboratory and clinical studies suggest that growth plate senescence explains the phenomenon of catch-up growth. Growth-inhibiting conditions such as glucocorticoid excess and hypothyroidism delay the program of growth plate senescence. Consequently, growth plates are less senescent after these conditions resolve and therefore grow more rapidly than is normal for age, resulting in catch-up growth.
纵向骨生长在产前和出生后早期迅速，但随后随年龄增长而减缓，最终停止。这种生长减速主要是由软骨细胞增殖减少引起的，并与其他结构、功能和分子变化相关，这些变化统称为生长板衰老。目前的证据表明，生长板衰老的发生是因为静止区的祖软骨细胞具有有限的复制能力，随着细胞分裂的增加，这种能力逐渐耗尽。此外，最近来自实验室和临床研究的实验结果表明，生长板衰老解释了追赶生长现象。糖皮质激素过多和甲状腺功能减退等生长抑制状况会延迟生长板衰老程序。因此，在这些状况消除后，生长板的衰老程度较低，因此比正常年龄时生长得更快，从而导致追赶生长。
