The anterior part of the mammalian nasal septum (NS) persists throughout the life span as hyaline cartilage, in contrast to cartilage in most parts of the body, which is gradually replaced by bone during development. In this study, we have cultured differentiating rat NS under various experimental conditions in an attempt to gain some insight into the osteogenic potential, if any, of the NS and its surrounding connective tissue. Differentiating NS from E15 and E19 rat embryos were dissected and grown under the following conditions: 1) organ cultured in Waymouth's medium or modified Eagle's medium, with or without serum; 2) cultured on chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM); 3) implanted under rat kidney capsule (KC). Bone-like substance (BLS) never developed in organ cultures, but was observed in CAM cultures and KC implants after 7 days. The BLS was located external to the perichondrium of the NS and was stained red by the van Gieson's technique, indicating the presence of mature collagen. Further evidence of its bone-like characteristics was demonstrated by the presence of alkaline phosphatase and type I collagen. The CAM and KC represent two experimental conditions under which progenitor cells in the nasal septum area may be induced to synthesize BLS.