Physeal replacement with cultured chondrocytes of varying developmental time: failure to reconstruct a functional or structural physis.

Reconstruction of physeal regions excised from the distal femoral chondroepiphysis was attempted in a murine model. Cultured chondrocytes of varying developmental time from the same inbred strain of mice were used for replacement. Vascularity, matrix formation, and cell division, as well as growth, were assessed. The cultured chondrocytes did not produce growth. Consistent with this, cell division, as assessed with incorporation of tritiated thymidine, was not normal. However, the cultured chondrocytes did receive a nutritional supply from the host and did continue matrix formation after transplantation.