Hello Everyone,

One of our collaborators is testing the mechanical properties of damaged
cartilage, and mentioned that trichrome (he did not say which trichrome
formulation) is often used to stain bone/cartilage since it stains the
bone blue and collagen red.  He thinks that this may be because bone
collagen is predominately type I, while cartilage contains type II.

Since damaged cartilage "heals" by being filled with fibrocartilage
(which contains type I collagen), he was wondering if a trichrome staining
of damaged/healed cartilage will look like strands of blue in red.

Unfortunately, I do not know the mechanisms of trichrome staining, and I
was wondering if his reasoning is sound.  I am also wondering if anyone
has stained cartilage with healed fibrocartilage and seen what he has
pictured.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated!

Jerry Hu
Rice University
Houston, Texas, USA