Relationship between the chondrocyte maturation cycle and the endochondral ossification in the diaphyseal and epiphyseal ossification centers

The chondrocyte maturation cycle and endochondral ossification were studied in human, fetal cartilage Anlagen and in postnatal meta‐epiphyses. The relationship between the lacunar area, the inter‐territorial fibril network variations, and calcium phosphorus nucleation in primary and secondary ossification centers were assessed using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphometry. The Anlage topographic, zonal classification was derived from the anatomical nomenclature of the completely developed long bone (diaphysis, metaphyses and epiphyses). A significant increase in the chondrocyte lacunar area was documented in the Anlage of epiphyseal zones 4 and 3 to zone 2 (metaphysis) and zone 1 (diaphysis), with the highest variation from zone 2 to zone 1. An inverse reduction in the intercellular matrix area and matrix interfibrillar empty space was also documented. These findings are consistent with the osmotic passage of free cartilage water from the interfibrillar space into the swelling chondrocytes, which increased the ion concentrations to a critical threshold for mineral precipitation in the matrix. The mineralized cartilage served as a scaffold for osteoblast apposition both in primary and secondary ossification centers and in the metaphyseal growth plate cartilage, though at different periods of bone Anlage development and with distinct patterns for each zone. All developmental processes shared a common initial pathway but progressed at different rates, modes and organization in diaphysis, metaphysis and epiphysis. In the ossification phase the developing vascular supply appeared to play a key role in determining the cortical or trabecular structure of the long bones. J. Morphol. 277:1187–1198, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.