Morphological and immunocytochemical characterization of primary osteogenic cell cultures derived from fetal rat cranial tissue

Enzymatic digestion of bone tissue potentially releases a mixture of precursor, differentiating, and mature cells. Conceptually, early fetal osteogenic tissue should provide a more uniform population of cells than late embryonic or newborn bone in which cells have already differentiated. In this context, we have applied sequential enzymatic digestion to obtain and culture cells from 15–16‐day fetal rat cranial tissue, a developmental age where deposition of bone matrix has not yet started at this site. These cultures were compared with those of osteogenic cells isolated from newborn rat calvariae and grown under similar conditions. Matrix production and composition were examined by colloidal gold immunocytochemistry using antibodies to bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteocalcin (OC), and osteopontin (OPN). The plated cells formed mineralized nodules by day 14. The presence of mineral was determined by von Kossa staining and backscattered electron imaging (BEI), and the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus within the nodules was demonstrated by X‐ray microanalysis and elemental mapping. At early time intervals, cells were generally cuboidal in shape and showed a well‐developed Golgi apparatus, which occasionally was immunoreactive for OPN. Labeling for BSP and OPN was found over mineralization foci and electron‐dense material within, and at the periphery, of larger mineralized masses and over accumulations of afibrillar matrix at the dish surface. Osteocalcin immunoreactivity was also associated with electron‐dense portions of the bone‐like matrix. These data demonstrate the potential of presumptive fetal rat calvarial cells to form a bone‐like matrix in vitro and suggest that the assembly and mineralization pattern show similarities to the process of intramembranous ossification. Such a culture system is of interest not only for studying cellular and matrix events of bone formation, but also factors which influence mesenchymal cells in committing themselves to the osteogenic pathway. Anat. Rec. 252:554–567, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.