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. 2010 Oct 14;109(6):1930–1938. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00839.2010

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Mouse rib fracture model. B–O: histological and immunohistochemical analysis of the healing time course postfracture day (PFD) 1 to PFD 21. A: hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of an intact rib capturing cortical bone (CB), intramedullar bone marrow space (BM), and surrounding skeletal muscle (M). B: H&E staining after rib osteotomy on PFD 1. Black arrows indicate the disconnected bone ends and the fracture gap. C: higher magnification alkaline phosphatase staining on PFD 1 shows strong osteoblastic activity in the periosteal areas distant from the damage site (black arrows). D: H&E staining on PFD 3. The thickening of the periosteum along CB is visible (white arrows). E: high-magnification view of this area shows that the periosteal response (white arrows) extends along viable into nonviable CB. F: H&E staining on PFD 5 reveals influx of predominantly fibroblast-like cells into the damage site from surrounding tissues (white arrows). G: higher magnification Alcian blue staining on PFD 5 shows chondrocytes (Ch) in areas neighboring the thickened periosteum. H&E (H) and Alcian blue (I) stainings of adjacent sections on PFD 7 prove increasing organization of cells around the damage site and demonstrate extended areas populated by Ch. J: H&E staining on PFD 14 shows that cartilage starts to bridge the bone ends in the enlarged callus. White arrows mark the perimeter of the callus. Black arrows indicate mononucleated cells of hematopoietic appearance populating the callus and pronounced new vessel formation. K: higher magnification view in Alcian blue staining. L: high magnification view of pro-collagen-1 immunohistochemistry on PFD 14 reveals new bone formation in the callus areas close to the disrupted bone ends. M: H&E staining of the remaining callus on PFD 21. N and O: high-magnification views on newly formed bone in the callus area reflecting remodeling by osteoclasts (N, black arrows) and osteoblasts (O, black arrows), as detected by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and pro-collagen-1 staining, respectively.