Bones and Cartilage

I have been interested in and studying skeletal tissues since my undergraduate days in Australia in the 1960s. Those early studies on the development of secondary cartilage in embryonic birds, first published in 1967, have come full circle with the discovery of secondary cartilage in dinosaurs12. Bird watching really is flying reptile watching. Skeletal tissue development and evolution, the embryonic origins of skeletal tissues (especially those that arise from neural crest cells), and integrating development and evolution in what is now known as evo-devo have been my primary preoccupations over the past 50+ years.

Part I Vertebrate Skeletal Tissues1. Vertebrate Skeletal Tissues2. Bone3. Vertebrate Cartilages

Part II Origins and Types of Skeletal Tissues4. Invertebrate Cartilages, Notochordal Cartilage and Cartilage Origins5. Intermediate Tissues6. Lessons from Fossils

Part III Unusual Modes of Skeletogenesis7. Horns and Ossicones8. Antlers9. Tendon Skeletogenesis and Sesamoids

Part IV Stem and Progenitor Cells10. Embryonic Stem and Progenitor Cells11. Stem and Progenitor Cells in Adults

Part V Skeletogenic Cells12. Bipotential Osteochondroprogenitor Cells13. Dedifferentiation of Chondrocytes and Endochondral Ossification14. Dedifferentiation and Stem Cells: Regeneration of Urodele Limbs and Mammalian Fingertips15. Cells to Make and Cells to Break

Part VI Embryonic Origins16. Skeletal Origins: Somitic Mesoderm, Vertebrae, Pectoral and Pelvic Girdles17. Skeletal Origins: Neural Crest Cells18. Epithelial–Mesenchymal Interactions initiate Skeletogenesis

Part VII Getting Started19. The Membranous Skeleton: Condensations20. From Condensation to Differentiation21. Skulls, Eyes and Ears: Condensations and Tissue Interactions

Part VIII Similarity and Diversity22. Hondrocyte Diversity23. Cartilage Diversity24. Osteoblast and Osteocyte Diversity and Osteogenesis in vitro25. Diversity of Bone as a Tissue and as an Organ

Part IX Maintaining Cartilage in Good Times and in Bad26. Maintaining Differentiated Chondrocytes through Cell–Matrix Interactions27. Maintenance Awry – Chondrodysplasias and Achondroplasia28. Restarting Mammalian Articular Chondrocytes29. Repair of Fractures and Regeneration of Growth Plates

Part X Growing Together and Growing Apart30. Initiating Skeletal Growth31. Growth and Morphogenesis of Long Bones32. Long Bone Growth: A Case of Crying Wolf?

Part XI Staying Apart33. The Temporomandibular Joint and Cranial Synchondroses34. Sutures and Craniosynostosis

Part XII Limb Buds35. The Mesodermal Limb Field and the Apical Epithelial Ridge36. Adding or Deleting an Apical Epithelial Ridge37. Limb Buds in Limbed and Limbless Tetrapods

Part XIII Limbs and Limb Skeletons38. Axes and Polarity of Limb Buds and Limbs39. Patterning and Shaping Limb Buds and Limb Skeletons40. Before Limbs There Were Fins

Part XIV Backbones and Tails41. Vertebral Chondrogenesis: Cell Differentiation and Morphogenesis42. Relationships between Notochord and Vertebral Cartilage43. Tail Buds, Tails and Taillessness

Part XV Evolutionary Skeletal Biology44. Variation45. Variation Outside the Norm: Neomorphs and Atavisms