Expression profiles from chondrocytes in culture - time course

To characterize the process of chondrocyte differentiation and maturation, we used Affymetrix GeneChip analysis to profile the dynamic changes in mRNA expression in high density cultures of primary rib chondrocytes from newborn mice. Temporal expression profiles were obtained from RNA harvested from chondrocytes cultured for 2, 6, 9, 12 and 15 days. Progressive maturation of cells into cartilage-producing hypertrophic chondrocytes was accompanied by changes of expression for many genes, particularly genes encoding extracellular matrix components and transcription factors. Primary chondrocytes were isolated for culture by steril removal of rib cages from FVB embryos at gestational day 18.5 and plated at high densities in gelatin-coated 6-well culture dishes. Media was changed every other day and chondrocytes were allowed to grow up to 15 days. A total of 5 samples were analyzed, every sample representing a particular time point during culture.