Primary murine growth plate and articular chondrocyte isolation and cell culture

The ability to isolate primary chondrocytes from wild-type and genetically altered mice has provided tremendous advances in the understanding of signaling networks that regulate chondrocytes in health and disease. Isolation of chondrocytes from both growth plate tissues and articular cartilage has been challenging due to the cells being embedded within a highly organized tissue matrix. Here we describe highly reproducible methods for the isolation of pure populations of growth plate chondrocytes from the murine sternum and ribs and articular chondrocytes from the knee joint.