A Disorder of Endochondral Ossification Induced by Dextran Sulphate

¹ From Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and The Rockefeller Institute, New York

The repeated administration of dextran sulphate to young rats leads to a disorder of endochondral ossification which is characterized by a reduced amount of bone-matrix (osteoporosis) in the metaphyses of long bones. The epiphyseal-cartilage plate and the articular cartilage are unaffected.

Tritium and S³⁵-labeled dextran sulphates were prepared and administered to suckling rats in a single intraperitoneal dose. Radioactivity was detected autoradiographically from one-half to 192 hours thereafter in fibrous connective tissues, in bone at sites of matrix deposition, and in macrophages. In the metaphyses, whether the label was S³⁵ or H³ the radioactivity was initially localized just underneath the epiphyseal plate; with time the band of radioactivity was displaced toward the medullary cavity.

In young rats approximately one-third of the administered dextran sulphate was excreted in the urine within six hours. Thereafter, up to forty-eight hours, only an additional 4 to 8 per cent of the radioactivity was excreted.

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