Abstract
Cartilage and bone are specialized skeletal tissues composed of unique extracellular matrices. Bone, in particular, has a highly calcified or mineralized matrix that makes microtomy and standard histological studies very challenging. Therefore, methods to appropriately fix and decalcify mineralized skeletal tissues have been developed to allow for paraffin processing and standard microtomy. In this chapter, we will illustrate methods for tissue grossing, fixation, decalcification, paraffin processing, embedding, sectioning, and routine histological staining of demineralized murine skeletal tissues. We will also discuss methods for decalcified frozen sectioning of skeletal tissues with and without the use of a tape-transfer system.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported, in part, by R01 grants (AR032092 and AR032121) to MJH.
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Mirando, A.J., Hilton, M.J. (2021). Demineralized Murine Skeletal Histology. In: Hilton, M.J. (eds) Skeletal Development and Repair. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2230. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1028-2_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1028-2_16
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Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
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Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1028-2
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