Vital staining indicating cell migration towards the periphery in the growth plate: Studies of fibular heads in rabbits

Abstract

In 38 fibular heads of young rabbits the germinal layer of the growth plate was traversed perpendicularly to the axis of the bone with an injection needle. The resulting channel was packed with pieces of raw agar-agar carrying Nile blue sulfate dye. The rabbits were killed after 1–8 days. In frozen sections of the fibular heads, stained cells were scattered over the germinal layer; in 19 of the plates a row of distinctly stained cells reached from the periphery of the germinal layer to the borderline of the innermost corner of the ossification groove of Ranvier (1889). Our results strengthen the view that the cells forming the periosteal bone originate in the growth plate, with implications for the pathogenesis of diseases of the growing skeleton.