A novel promoting action of fullerene C60 on the chondrogenesis in rat embryonic limb bud cell culture system.

Fullerene C60 was solubilized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in water, and the aqueous solution was applied to the rat limb bud cell differentiation system. By the incubation with various concentrations of C60 with poly(vinylpyrrolidone), cell differentiation was extremely promoted, up to the levels of a 3.2-fold increase of the controls. Although poly(vinylpyrrolidone) alone inhibited the cell differentiation in proportion to the concentration, the observed promoting action by C60 surpassed the action of poly(vinylpyrrolidone). This specific promoting action on the chondrogenesis is the novel significant activity of C60.