Alizarin Red Staining of Post-natal Bone in Mouse

INTRODUCTION The vertebrate skeleton forms by endochondral and intramembranous bone formation. During endochondral bone formation, mesenchyme condensations give rise to cartilages that are eventually replaced by bone. However, there are some permanent cartilages that do not ossify, such as the cartilage of the trachea and articular cartilage of the joints, and intramembranous bone formation occurs directly without a cartilage template. This article describes an abbreviated outline of a technique for staining the bone of newborn and adult mice. Because the ossified skeleton is a robust tissue, even the skeletons of dead animals can be processed using this method.