[Effect of insulin-like growth factor-I on cultured articular chondrocytes of rabbits].
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) on biological characteristics of articular chondrocytes cultured in vitro of rabbits. METHODS: Monolayer articular chondrocytes of 4-week old rabbits were cultured in medium with IGF-I, at the concentrations of 3, 10, 30, 100, and 300 ng/ml. The DNA content in cells and glucuronic acid content in matrix were detected on the 2nd, 4th, 6th days after culture. RESULTS: The DNA content in cells and the glucuronic acid content in matrix in articular chondrocytes cultured in medium with IGF-I at concentrations of 3-300 ng/ml were all significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.01), which reached the peak at the concentrations of 30-100 mg/ml on the 4th day. CONCLUSION: IGF-I could obviously promote the proliferation of articular chondrocytes in vitro, and there exist time-dependent and dose-dependent effect.