Thymidine-3H electron microscope radioautography of osteogenic cells in the fetal rat.

The proximal tibial epiphyses of 18-21-day-old fetal rats have been studied by thymidine-(3)H radioautography. The results reveal that the label is incorporated into two types of osteogenic cells: (a) a spindle cell type (A cells) with characteristics generally associated with matrix production, including an extensive development of the endoplasmic reticulum and the presence of large intracellular accumulations of a dense, finely granular material, morphologically identifiable as glycogen; and (b) a rounded cell type (B cells) with morphological features similar in degree and kind to those of the developing neutrophilic leukocyte, including an abundance of free ribosomes and mitochondria and a complex Golgi apparatus associated with dense specific granules, morphologically identifiable with primary lysosomes. These results, along with the occurrence of recognizable, labeled, immature, perivascular forms of both of these A and B type cells, lead to the conclusion that the specialization of osteogenic cells into osteoclasts and osteocytes may involve separate pathways of cytodifferentiation.