If you're interested in the histochemistry of the cartilage, a panel
     of Alcian blues with different salt concentrations (Critical
     Electrolyte Concentration technique) w/ and w/o enzyme digestions will
     help characterize the kinds of proteoglycans present. There are also
     some antibodies available for specific proteoglycans, but I warn you
     that they're a big pain in the butt to work out.
        And of course, if you're interested in pathologic calcification of
     the cartilage, you can do Alizarin Red.

                                                                jc


______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: characterizing cartilage
Author:  Gary Radice <gradice@richmond.edu> at internet
Date:    11/04/1999 11:33 AM


I have a begun a collaboration with a colleague (a surgeon) who is
interested in cartilage regeneration. My job is  to determine whether the
regenerated tissue it looks (histologically) like "real" articular
cartilage. Most of my experience is with embryonic tissues and with muscle.
I have checked with all the usual suspects (Humason's Animal Tissue
Techniques, Bancroft and Stevens, AFIP manuals) for standard techniques but
I would also like to correspond with someone who does cartilage routinely
to get some opinions about protocols that might be particularly diagnostic
for "normality."

Gary P. Radice                        gradice@richmond.edu
Associate Professor of Biology                804 289 8107 (voice)
University of Richmond                804 289 8233 (FAX)
Richmond VA 23173                http://www.science.richmond.edu/~radice