# HYPERTROPHIC CHONDROCYTE AND ITS PERICELLULAR MATRIX

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 1992 · $100,299

## Abstract

During endochondral ossification, chondrocytes of the
cartilaginous growth plate are found in a spatial gradient of
cellular maturation beginning with cellular proliferation and
ending with cellular hypertrophy.  The focus of this study is
chondrocytic hypertrophy -- its contribution to overall bone
growth during normal endochondral ossification, its significance in
post-natal diseases of long bone growth, and its potential as a
component of long bone growth which can be manipulated for the
correction of angular deformities or limb anisomelia.  The long
term objective is to understand what controls the magnitude of
chondrocytic hypertrophy as this relates to the rate of overall
bone growth, as well as the control by these cells in directing the
progress of metaphyseal cellular elements.  This relates directly
to an understanding of the pathogenesis of a wide variety of
growth plate disorders characterized by both abnormal
chondrocytic hypertrophy and subsequent failure of metaphyseal
vascular penetration.  The primary focus is on the
osteochondroses, which currently are classified as over 50
different disease entities of the growth plate, named by
anatomical location.

Using morphological criteria from video-enhanced rectified
interference contrast microscopy of living organ cultures, vital
dye binding and lectin binding of living chondrocytes in situ,
improved chemical fixation for light and selectron microscopy,
and stereology, the three specific aims of the current proposal
are:

1.  To test the hypothesis that the process of cellular hypertrophy
is controlled at three critical transition points.  It is hypothesized
that the hypertrophic cell zone does not consist of a continuum of
cellular maturation in which each cell can be uniquely defined,
but rather that the hypertrophic cell zone has three distinct
subzones characterized by definable maturational stages.

2.  To test the hypothesis that hypertrophic cell volume correlates
positively with the of growth of a given growth plate.  This
hypothesis will be tested by using computerized serial section
reconstructions and newly developed stereological techniques on a
series of growth plates from multiple species, growing at
different rates.

3,  To test the hypothesis that hypertrophic cell volume is
influenced by externally mediated perturbations which are known
to alter the rate of long bone growth.  The model will be the
spontaneous correction of experimentally induced angular limb
deformities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3157062
- **Project number:** 5R01AR035155-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **SAM.gov UEI:** LCLSJAGTNZQ7
- **Principal Investigator:** NORMAN J WILSMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1992
- **Award amount:** $100,299
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1985-07-01 → 1994-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3157062

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3157062, HYPERTROPHIC CHONDROCYTE AND ITS PERICELLULAR MATRIX (5R01AR035155-08). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3157062. Licensed CC0.

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