Summary
Electron-dense particles with a diameter of 50–200 nm have been observed at the cell membrane of chondrocytes in the zone of the initiation and advance of mineralization, using the dark field STEM mode. Electronprobe x-ray microanalysis and laser microprobe mass analysis indicate that these particles contain predominantly K and Na. They appear only in dry thin sections of shock-frozen, freeze-dried embedded tissue and not in sections of water-treated samples; hence they contain water-extractable potassium and sodium. The function of the two elements at these special sites is not yet clear. On the one hand, they might reflect exocytotic processes connected with a Na-K-ATPase; on the other hand, they might exist as a transitory state before being replaced by Ca and phosphate in the mineralizing matrix and later transported elsewhere by the blood vessels.
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Barckhaus, R.H., Schmidt, P.F., Quint, P. et al. Potassium concentration in membrane-associated particles in the epiphyseal growth plate. Cell Tissue Res. 242, 217–219 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225579
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225579