Treatment of growth arrest by transfer of cultured chondrocytes into physeal defects.

Chondrocytes were cultured from cartilage harvested from the iliac apophysis and knee joints of New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. An experimental model for growth arrest was created by excising the medial half of the proximal growth plate of the tibia of 6-week-old NZW rabbits. The cultured chondrocytes were embedded in agarose and transferred into the growth-plate defect after excision of the physis. Transfer also was performed after excision of the bony bridge in established growth arrest. In both cases, growth arrest with angular deformation of the tibia was prevented. Histologic studies confirmed the viability of the chondrocytes in the new host physis.