Differentiation of cartilage cells studied by quantitative [3H]thymidine autoradiography in vitro.

The apical segments of the mandibular condylar cartilage of newborn ICR mice, containing the intact zones of progenitor cells along with a few rows of chondroblasts were initially prelabelled in vitro with [3H]thymidine and were subsequently chased and cultured for as long as eight days. Such explants underwent a process of tissue regeneration, as after three days in culture they reconstituted the original structure of the organ, thus resembling the in vivo appearance of neonatal mandibular condylar cartilage. Cellular proliferation with subsequent differentiation in the regenerating tissue was followed by means of quantitative autoradiography. Immediately after labelling, the autoradiography-positive grains were confined exclusively to progenitor cells. The latter revealed a substantial ability to proliferate in vitro, a fact that was manifested by a progressive increase in the labelling index along the course of the culture. The latter process was followed by cellular differentiation thereby obtaining hypertrophic chondrocytes. The increase in the rate of labelling index and in the total number of [3H]thymidine-labelled cells was significantly correlated with the overall growth of the regenerating explants.