THE HISTOGENETIC AND BIOSYNTHETIC CAPABILITIES OF URODELE CHONDROCYTES AFTER SHORT-TERM AND PROLONGED CULTURE IN...

Urodele larval chondrocytes can be successfully maintained in long-term in vitro cultures with successive serial subculturing. In the monolayered cultures the chondrocytes actively synthesize DNA and undergo mitotic divisions, but no synthesis of mucopolysaccharide matrix takes place. The majority of the cells maintain their normal chromosome complement. Chondrocytes from short-term primary cultures, when implanted into the tail fins of host larvae, organize morphologically into typical cartilage tissue with cellular lacunae and a mucopolysaccharide matrix. When chondrocytes, which have been in monolayered cultures for long periods, are implanted as pellets into the in vivo conditions of the tail fin, they form a discrete trabecularized mass. The cells now display the capability of mucopolysaccharide matrix synthesis, but have apparently lost their histogenetic capability of forming typical cartilage tissue.