The mammalian growth plate is a complex structure which is essential for the elongation of long bones. However, an understanding of how the growth plate functions at the cellular level is lacking. This review, summarises the factors involved in growth-plate regulation, its failure and the consequence of injury. We also describe some of the cellular mechanisms which underpin the increase in volu...

Elimination of the floor plate, a row of distinctive cells at the ventral midline of the spinal cord, dramatically increased the frequency of errors made by specific growth cones in the zebrafish embryo. This demonstrated that the floor plate participated in guiding specific growth cones at the ventral midline of the spinal cord. However, since a significant proportion of these growth cones fol...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of allogenic costal cartilage transplantation on preventing bony bridge formation and angular deformities for the treatment of partial growth plate injury using a rabbit model. METHODS An experimental model of partial growth injury was created by resecting the medial part of the proximal tibial growth plate in male six-week-old N...

Growth Hormone (GH) stimulates growth plate chondrogenesis and longitudinal bone growth, with its stimulatory effects being primarily mediated by Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), both systemically and locally in the growth plate. It has been shown that the transcription factor Stat5b mediates the GHpromoting effect on IGF-1 expression and on chondrogenesis: yet, it is not known whether oth...

Leptin is an obesity-associated cytokine-like hormone encoded by the ob gene. Recent studies reveal that leptin promotes proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes, suggesting a peripheral role of leptin in regulating growth plate function. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) is a transcriptional regulator of adipogenesis. Locally, PPARγ negatively regulates chondrogenic...

The longitudinal growth of long bones occurs in growth plates where chondrocytes synthesize cartilage that is subsequently ossified. Altered growth and subsequent deformity resulting from abnormal mechanical loading is often referred to as mechanical modulation of bone growth. This phenomenon has key implications in the progression of infant and juvenile musculoskeletal deformities, such as ado...

Longitudinal growth of bones occurs at the growth plates where chondrocytes align into columns that allow directional growth. Little is known about the mechanisms controlling the ability of chondrocytes to form columns. We hypothesize that mechanical load and the resulting force on chondrocytes are necessary during active growth for proper growth plate development and limb length. To test this ...

Previous meta-analysis of genome-wide association (GWA) studies has identified 180 loci that influence adult height. However, each GWA locus typically comprises a set of contiguous genes, only one of which presumably modulates height. We reasoned that many of the causative genes within these loci influence height because they are expressed in and function in the growth plate, a cartilaginous st...

Indian Hedgehog (Ihh) has been reported to control the rate of cartilage differentiation during skeletal morphogenesis in rodents through a negative feedback loop involving parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP). The role of Ihh and PTHrP in the regulation of human epiphyseal chondrocytes is unknown. The aim of the current study was to examine the expression and localization of Ihh and PTH...