Development And Characterization Of An Immortalized Chondrocyte Cell Line Derived From The Rabbit Mandibular Condyle

Condyle, an important part of temporomandibular joint (TMJ), has a special fibrocartilage, which consists of three parts, i.e. fibrous layer, proliferative layer or undifferentiated mesenchyme layer, and chondrocyte layer. Because of the specific anatomy and physiology function of TMJ, the mandibular condylar chondrocytes (MCCs) have their own characteristic different from the common chondrocytes in cellular shape, proliferation and differentiation, synthesis and secretion of matrix, etc.With the development of cell culture technique, MCCs from different species such as mouse, rabbit and human have been successfully primarily cultured. This facilitates the further understanding of the biological nature of MCCs. Since the particular fibrocartilage of condyle is cumbersome to analyze, MCCs in vitro actually include a lot of chondrocytes in different differentiation stage, and show an unstable phenotype. This makes it difficult to perform biological studies on MCCs.Recent studies have shown that some oncogenes such as Simian Virus (SV 40) large T (tumor) antigen may cause the immortalization of cells with definite life-span, and can also result in the retention of at least some of their specific function.