[Effect of serum factors on skeletal growth in Perthes' disease].

It is well known that patients with Perthes' disease have skeletal growth disturbances such as short stature and retardation of bone maturation. The purpose of this study was to identify serum factors which relate to the skeletal growth disturbances in Perthes' disease. The stature, bone age and the concentration of plasma somatomedin-C were measured. The stature and bone age were lower than those of normal subjects, and the concentration of plasma somatomedin-C was significantly lower than the normal value. Serum from patients with Perthes' disease was added to the culture medium of chondrocytes from rabbit articular cartilage to measure the cell number and the contents of protein and glycosaminoglycan per dish. Each of these parameters was slightly lower in the culture containing the patients' serum than that with normal serum. It may be concluded that there is some factors in the serum of patients with Perthes' disease which controls the proliferation and differentiation of chondrocytes, and somatomedin-C might be related to that factor.