| abstract |
The invention is a method of applying a joint inducing protein preferably BMP-9 or BMP-3 to an ossification center in order to create a joint, articular cartilage, or an endochondral cap. The ossification center may be one that occurs naturally such as in the case of amputation, wound healing or fracture, or, it may be artificially induced by the application of an ossification center inducing protein, which may include other BMP family proteins such as BMP-2, BMP-4 or BMP-7. Further, this invention is a method of producing joints, or joint-like structures in vitro by application of BMP-9 to cells derived from tissue regions capable of producing ossification centers, such as digit-derived fibroblasts. |