Interaction of embryonic chick calvarial bone cells with collagen substrata; attachment characteristics and growth behaviour.

Freshly isolated bone cells from embryonic chick calvariae were found to attach to films of native monomeric type I or II collagen, to gels of native type I collagen and, to a lesser extent, to air-dried films of these collagens, in a fibronectin-independent manner, and with no requirement for collagen synthesis. Adhesion to type III collagen was relatively poor. Films of native monomeric type I or II collagen were preferred to the corresponding air-dried films as substrata for proliferation. Cis-hydroxyproline inhibited growth upon both plastic and type I and type II collagenous substrata, but this effect could largely be overcome by providing bone cell-conditioned medium, suggesting the possibility of a requirement in the growth process for synthesis of a collagen other than type I, the major form in bone matrix.