Fig. 2. Human intervertebral disc cells were cultured in three dimensional alginate beads with various concentration of pamidronate (10-12, 10-10, 10-8, and 10-6 M). Proteoglycan synthesis was analyzed with 35S-sulfate incorporation and normalized by deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis. Cultures with pamidronate demonstrated no significant increase in proteoglycan synthesis compared to control culture.
