Spatiotemporal dynamics and ossification of podoplanin-positive cells in the developing femur

In vertebral long bones, such as the femur, bone formation involves endochondral ossification. Endochondral ossification first occurs in the central region of the fetal diaphysis, the primary ossification center. Podoplanin (PDPN) is a transmembrane mucin-like glycoprotein, and PDPN-positive cells play key roles in various organ/tissue development. In adult mice, osteolineage PDPN-positive cells are associated with femoral microarchitecture. However, specific roles of PDPN in fetal bone development remain unclear. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics and physiological functions of PDPN-positive cells during fetal femur development. In the fetal femur, PDPN-positive cells first emerged in the primitive cortical bone, termed the bone collar, concurrently with primary ossification center initiation. Several PDPN-positive cells in the bone collar migrated to the marrow cavity and populated the metaphyseal trabecular bone. Most PDPN-positive cells in both the bone collar and trabeculae exhibited osteolineage features, such as osterix expression. Pdpn knockout fetuses exhibited abnormal recruitment of osterix-positive cells and mineral deposition in the dorsal bone collar. Overall, our results suggest that PDPN-positive cells constitute a spatially regulated osteolineage population that contributes to coordinated fetal femur development.