Osteoblast precursors, but not mature osteoblasts, move into developing and fractured bones along with invading blood vessels.

ABSTRACT: During endochondral bone development, the first osteoblasts differentiate in the perichondrium surrounding avascular cartilaginous rudiments; the source of trabecular osteoblasts inside the later bone is, however, unknown. Here, we generated tamoxifen-inducible transgenic mice bred to Rosa26R-LacZ reporter mice to follow the fates of stage-selective subsets of osteoblast lineage cells. Pulse-chase studies showed that osterix-expressing osteoblast precursors, labeled in the perichondrium prior to vascular invasion of the cartilage, give rise to trabecular osteoblasts, osteocytes, and stromal cells inside the developing bone. Throughout the translocation, some precursors were found to intimately associate with invading blood vessels, in pericyte-like fashion. A similar coinvasion occurs duri

SUBMITTER: Maes C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3540406 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature