The development of embryonic bone and cartilage in tissue culture

Embryonic chick long bone develops in a series of temporally controlled, cellular events and involves the integration of at least three distinctly different sets of cells: collar osteoblasts, core osteoblasts, and resorptive or osteoclastic cells. The morphology of the long bones is established by the developing cartilage rudiment or model. All of these events seem to be influenced by positional cues. The cultivation of all of these cells and their presumptive progenitor cells potentially allows a detailed analysis of their individual and collective phenotypic traits. Future studies can include how long bones form, how bone-forming and bone-resorbing cells interact, and how osteogenic cells influence each other throughout each stage of their respective developmental lineages.