title: High-throughput staining for the evaluation of fetal skeletal development in rats and rabbits.
abstract: Typical developmental toxicity studies require the assessment of fetal skeletal development. Regulatory guidelines require the assessment of bone ossification and indicate preferences for an assessment of both ossified bone as well as cartilaginous elements. Current manual methods to process fetuses for skeletal examination, whether single or double staining, are laborious and time consuming, and ultimately extend the time before study interpretations. There is a definite need for a quick and efficient, yet reliable, procedure to generate stained fetal skeletons for analysis. A non-automated high-throughput method for single and double staining rat and rabbit fetuses for skeletal evaluations is described, which results in excellent quality specimens ready for evaluations in approximately 3 days for rats and 7 days for rabbits.
authors: Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology, Safety Assessment, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, Pennsylvania 19486, USA. brian_redfern@merck.com
authors: Brian G
authors: BG
authors: Redfern
authors: L David
authors: LD
authors: Wise
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005333:Fetus; D011247:Pregnancy; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents