A 3D view of rendered images showing a developing cranium, where the cartilage is blue and the bone is shown in purple. In this image, the top of the skull does not have any cartilage (blue), showing it forms bone (purple) uniquely without needing cartilage. Video Credit: A. Chédotal & R. Blain, Institut de la Vision, Paris & MeLiS UCBL HCL, Lyon
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A team of researchers used cutting-edge genomic techniques to identify cells and pathways in the early stages of skeletal development, thus creating the first ‘blueprint’ of human skeletal development.
“Our unique freely available skeletal atlas sheds new light on cartilage, bone, and joint development in the first trimester, detailing the cells and pathways involved together for the first time,” says Professor Sarah Teichmann, co-founder of the Human Cell Atlas and senior author of the study. “This detailed atlas of bone development in space and time is coordinated with other studies which bring the entire initiative one step closer to fully understanding what happens in the human body across development, health, and disease.”
The study showed how cartilage scaffolds bone development throughout the skeleton. It mapped all the cells critical for skull formation and found specific genes activated in early bone cells that could be linked to a higher risk of hip arthritis as an adult. The Human Cell Atlas could be used as a possible diagnostic and therapeutic target for identifying and treating congenital conditions.
