The Differential Growth-Response of Embryonic Chick Limb-Bone Rudiments to Triiodothyronine in vitro. III. Hormone Concentration.
Rudiments of each of the limb bones from the same chick embryo differ in their growth response to thyroid hormones in vitro (Fell & Mellanby, 1955, 1956). These variations in response to triiodothyronine (T3) are not determined by differences in maturity or size of the rudiments (Lawson, 1961a), but are associated with differences in their normal specific growth rates in vivo; T3 retards the growth of rudiments which normally have a high specific growth rate and stimulates the growth of those which grow slowly in vivo. However, when the growth rate of the limb-bone rudiments is altered in vitro by varying the composition of the medium or the temperature, the characteristic responses of different rudiments to T3 are not greatly altered (Lawson, 1961b). For example, the effect of T3 on the radius, a slowly growing rudiment, is to stimulate growth, whereas the same amount of T3 retards the growth rate of the third metatarsus which is normally a fast growing bone.