Many studies have shown that calcium phosphate ceramics (CP) have osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties; however, the exact mechanism of bone induction has not yet been reported. This study was performed to investigate if destroying immunological function will influence osteogenesis, to explain the mechanism which is unclear. In this study, twenty C57BL/6 mice were divided into two groups (n = 10), in group 1, a hydroxyapatite/beta-tricalcium phosphate (HA/beta-TCP) ceramic was implanted into both the left and right leg muscles of each mouse; in group 2, ten mice experienced lethal irradiation, then were injected bone marrow (BM) cells from green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice by tail veil, after bone marrow transplantation (BMT), heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and muscle were harvested for biological analysis, after the GFP chimera model was established successfully, the same HA/beta-TCP ceramic was implanted into both leg muscles of each mouse immediately after irradiation. 45 and 90 days after implantation, the ceramics of the two groups were harvested to perform with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining; the results showed that there was no bone formation in group 2, while new bone tissues were detected in group 1. Our findings suggest that the BM cell from GFP transgenic mice is a good biomarker and it could set a good platform for chimera model; it also shows that BM cell is one of cell resources of bone induction, and destruction of immune function will impede osteoinduction by CP. Overall, our results may shed light on clear mechanism study of bone induction in the future. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.