title: A procedure for differential staining of cartilage and bone in whole formalin-fixed vertebrates.
abstract: This paper describes a modification of the Simons and Van Horn (1971) procedure for rendering cartilage blue, bone red, and soft tissue translucent or transparent in whole vertebrate specimens. Alcian blue and alizarin red S are used to stain cartilage and bone respectively. In our procedure formalin is used as a fixative. This is a significant modification because formalin is the common fixative for museum specimens. This clearing and staining procedure is thus readily applicable to comparative studies in anatomy, embryology and systematic zoology.
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones; D002356:Cartilage; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005557:Formaldehyde; D007814:Larva / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012104:Reptiles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014562:Caudata
chemical_list: D005557:Formaldehyde