Contact-mediated Reversible Suppression of Myogenesis

Chondrocytes from the vertebral columns of 11-day chick embryos were cultured in the continuous presence of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) Under these conditions the cells form multilayers but synthesize little extracellular matrix as determined by toluidine blue metachromasia or sulfate-(35)S incorporation into polysaccharide. Myogenic cells from the breast muscles of 11-day chick embryos formed myotubes when plated into BUdR-treated chondrocyte cultures. When plated on untreated chondrocyte multilayers or on multilayers which had been permitted to recover from BUdR treatment for 3 days, myogenic cells failed to form myotubes Since extracellular matrix is present in untreated chondrocyte cultures and reappears in multilayers recovering from BUdR treatment, it is suggested that extracellular matrix is the active agent in the suppression of myogenesis An attempt was made to duplicate the suppressing activity of multilayer cultures by using ion exchange resins as substrates for myogenic cells Myotubes formed on acidic and basic resin particles If extracellular matrix is the active suppressing agent, it may have to fulfill certain spatial distributional requirements before its activity is expressed