MC3T3 is an osteoblast precursor
cell line derived from ''
Mus musculus
Mus or MUS may refer to:
Abbreviations
* MUS, the NATO country code for Mauritius
* MUS, the IATA airport code for Minami Torishima Airport
* MUS, abbreviation for the Centre for Modern Urban Studies on Campus The Hague, Leiden University, Net ...
'' (mouse)
calvaria.
[Kodama H. A., Amagai Y., Sudo H., Kasai S., Yamamoto S. Establishment of a clonal osteogenic cell line from newborn mouse calvaria. Jpn J Oral Biol. 1981. Oct;23(4):899-901.]
A number of derivatives of this strain have been isolated to select for varying degrees of osteogenic potential, and have been widely used as model systems in
bone
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...
biology. A standard textbook calls its MC3T3-E1 sub-line "one of the most convenient and physiologically relevant systems for study of
transcription
Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including:
Genetics
* Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...
al control in calvarial
osteoblasts."
[Bilezikian, John P., Lawrence G. Raisz, and Gideon A. Rodan. ''Principles of Bone Biology''. San Diego: Academic Press, 2002. p.1506] This is a spontaneously transformed ( immortalized ) cell line. As such, it is a very convenient research tool but caution should be used when extrapolating these results to normal cells, and even more, to normal human cells.
The MC3T3 cell line is also used for modeling skeletal tissue regeneration because its undifferentiated state is phenotypically similar to that of an
osteochondroprogenitor cell. One published research article, using MC3T3-E1 cells as a model for studying cartilage regeneration, describes some of the specific limitations of the cell line for understanding behavior in human cells.
References
External links
Cellosaurus entry for MC3T3Cellosaurus entry for MC3T3-E1
Rodent cell lines
Osteology
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