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. 2018 May 15;6:58. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2018.00058

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Copyright © 2018 Wong, Rivera, Miclau, Alsberg, Marcucio and Bahney.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Fate of the chondrocyte. During endochondral ossification, the formation of the cartilage callus begins with the differentiation of periosteal stem cells into chondrocytes, which proliferate and mature to a hypertrophic state. These hypertrophic chondrocytes then re-enter the cell cycle, express stem cell markers, and finally transform into osteoblasts that contribute to the formation of new bone. Published evidence suggests the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP), Canonical Wnt, Notch, and Hedgehog (HH) pathways as candidate regulators of chondrocyte-to-osteoblast transformation due to their effects on chondrogenesis, stemness, cell proliferation, and osteogenesis in the context of endochondral repair () and in other biological contexts ().

Inline graphic — Fate of the chondrocyte. During endochondral ossification, the formation of the cartilage callus begins with the differentiation of periosteal stem cells into chondrocytes, which proliferate and mature to a hypertrophic state. These hypertrophic chondrocytes then re-enter the cell cycle, express stem cell markers, and finally transform into osteoblasts that contribute to the formation of new bone. Published evidence suggests the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP), Canonical Wnt, Notch, and Hedgehog (HH) pathways as candidate regulators of chondrocyte-to-osteoblast transformation due to their effects on chondrogenesis, stemness, cell proliferation, and osteogenesis in the context of endochondral repair () and in other biological contexts ().