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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Med. 2011 Sep 11;17(10):1235–1241. doi: 10.1038/nm.2448

Figure 4. Osx1-Cre mediated RANKL deletion in adult mice does not alter osteoclast number in cancellous bone.

Figure 4

(a) X-ray images (top) and histological sections of femurs stained with safranin-O (bottom) of 6-month-old Osx1-Cre;RANKLf/f and RANKLf/f littermates that were exposed to doxycycline in utero and maintained on a doxycycline-containing diet until 4 months of age. Scale bar, 500 μm. (b) Quantitative PCR of loxP-flanked genomic DNA isolated from collagenase-digested femoral cortical bone (left) and quantitative RT-PCR of RANKL mRNA in tibia and L5 vertebra (right panel) of Osx1-Cre;RANKLf/f (n = 12) mice and their RANKLf/f littermates (n = 10) exposed to doxycycline as described in (a). *P < 0.05 using Student’s t-test. (c) RANKL (left) and interleukin-6 (IL6) (right) mRNA levels in bone marrow cultures from Osx1-Cre;RANKLf/f and RANKLf/f littermates exposed to doxycycline as described in (a) or from 6-month-old Dmp1-Cre;RANKLf/f and RANKLf/f littermates. Each value represents the mean of 3 wells. *P < 0.05 with the comparisons indicated by the brackets using 2-way ANOVA. (d) Osteoclast number per mm bone perimeter in cancellous bone of the distal femur of Osx1-Cre;RANKLf/f (n = 4) and RANKLf/f (n = 4) littermates exposed to doxycycline as described in (a). (e) Cathepsin K (Ctsk) and TRAP (Acp5) mRNA levels in tibia and L5 vertebra of Osx1-Cre;RANKLf/f (n = 12) and RANKLf/f (n = 10) littermates exposed to doxycycline as described in (a). (f) Percent change in BMD between 4 and 6 months of age in Osx1-Cre;RANKLf/f (n = 14) and RANKLf/f (n = 8) littermates exposed to doxycycline as described in (a). All values include data from both sexes.