Bone and Muscle Histology
Our laboratory has >20 years of experience with histology and histomorphometry techniques applied to musculoskeletal tissues. We routinely perform static and dynamic histomorphometry of bone as well as morphological and molecular assessment of soft tissues such as skeletal muscle and adipose depots.
In collaboration with services offered by the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy’s Electron Microscopy & Histology Core facility (https://www.augusta.edu/mcg/cba/emhisto/index.php), our laboratory is well equipped for:
- plastic (e.g., methylmethacrylate) embedding and sectioning of calcified cortical and trabecular bone
- cryo-embedding and sectioning (e.g., Kawamoto film method) of calcified cortical and trabecular bone
- paraffin embedding and sectioning of decalcified bone and soft tissues
- specialized staining and histomorphometric analysis of bone (e.g., analysis of fluorochrome labels, TRAP staining for osteoclasts, VonKossa / MacNeal’s Tetrachrome staining for osteoblasts)
- molecular analyses of tissue sections such as RNAscope and immunohistochemical staining.
We are always happy to consider new collaborations with interested investigators; please contact Dr. McGee-Lawrence (mmcgeelawrence@augusta.edu) or Dr. Kanglun Yu (kyu@augusta.edu) if you’d like to explore a collaborative arrangement for histology / histomorphometry services.
Equipment
Our laboratory is well equipped for molecular, cellular, and structural studies of musculoskeletal tissues. Equipment listed below is available for collaboration use, please contact the PI if we can be of assistance in your studies.
Major Equipment in the McGee-Lawrence Laboraotry
- Kubtec DIGIMUS digital X-ray cabinet (including DXA-based analysis software)
- Tinius Olsen H5KS mechanical testing system with 500N and 5kN load cells
- Bose Electroforce 3200 mechanical testing system with 10 lbf (44N) and 50 lbf (222 N) load cells
- Skyscan 1276 in vivo microCT system
- Bio-Tek Cytation5 multimode reader and imaging station with injectors and Geni5 software
- ACDBio HybEZII Oven (for RNAscope)
- Bioseb grip strength meter
- Aurora in vivo / ex vivo muscle testing system
- SomnoFlo electronic isoflurane vaporizer (1), and portable, single-channel isoflurane vaporizers (2)
- Columbus Instruments Exer3/6 treadmills (2) and running wheels (16) with data collection systems
- Harvard Apparatus PHD Ultra IW Programmable syringe pump, with
- HM 505E cryostat and Leica paraffin microtome
- Buehler Isomet low-speed diamond saw and Ecomet 30 polishing wheel (for cortical bone histology)
- Olympus IX-70 inverted brightfield and fluorescent microscope with QIMAGING digital camera
- Zeiss Axioplan2 upright brightfield and fluorescent microscope with AxioCam HRc digital camera
- BIOQUANT Osteo histomorphometry software packages (2)
- Bio-rad CFX Connect qPCR machine (96 well) and Bio-rad C1000 48×2 thermocycler
- Bio-rad ChemiDoc XRS+ with ImageLab software darkroom system (UV transilluminator + digital image acquisition for ethidium bromide, ECL, and Coomassie staining)
- Bio-rad Trans-Blot Turbo Transfer western blotting transfer system
- Nanodrop 2000 spectrophotometer system
- Corning LSE 71L shaking incubator and New Brunswick Scientific G24 Environmental Shaker
- 120 watt sonic dismembrator & sound enclosure cabinet
- VWR Model 200 handheld homogenizer and steel generator probe
- Bio-Rad mini-PROTEAN tetracell and Biorad PROTEAN ii western blotting systems
- Finnipipette Novus 5-50 and 10-100 digital repeating pipets
- HeraCell 150i incubators (2), Fisher Isotemp incubators (2)
- 4 ft A2 classification biosafety cabinets (2)
- Legend X1R refrigerated centrifuges (2)
- EVOS XL Core digital microscope (4X, 10X, 20X objectives)
- Analytical balance (Mettler Toledo MS204S)
- Benchtop pH meter (Mettler Toledo FiveEasy)
- -80 deg C, -20 deg C, 4 deg C freezers and refrigerators
Departmental and inter-departmental shared resources
- Skyscan 1272 microCT system
- Lab Products Inc. metabolic chambers (8) with urine/fecal collection funnels
- Agilent Seahorse XFe96 Extracellular Flux Analyzer systems with Wave software
- Flexcell Streamer system (flow chamber, pump, dedicated incubator)