Goat polyclonal anti-mouse sclerostin (0.2 mg/ml; R&D Systems, Abingdon, UK) and biotinylated rabbit anti-goat (0.013 mg/ml; Dako, Ely, UK) were used as the primary and secondary antibodies, respectively. All antibodies were diluted in 10%

rabbit serum (Sigma Chemical Co.) in calcium and magnesium-free phosphate-buffered saline (Gibco, Paisley, UK). The same concentration of goat IgG was substituted for the primary antibody to provide a negative control. The detection of sclerostin was achieved using a vector ABC kit (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA, USA) with diaminobenzidine as a substrate. The immunolabeled sections were photographed using a Leica

DMR microscope (Leica Microsystems, Heidelberg, Germany). The numbers of sclerostin-positive and total osteocytes were counted, and the find more changes Compound Library screening in osteocyte sclerostin expression by loading and/or sciatic neurectomy-related disuse were calculated as percentage changes compared to the control tibia for each animal [(right loaded − left control) × 100/left control] at the proximal and distal sites of cortical bone and in the primary and secondary spongiosa of trabecular bone. At these two cortical sites, the percentages of sclerostin-positive osteocytes were also measured at regions corresponding to different levels of strain determined by FE analysis. μCT analysis

All tibiae analysed by μCT (SkyScan 1172; SkyScan, Kontich, Belgium) were scanned with a pixel size of 5 μm. Images of the whole bones were reconstructed with SkyScan software and three-dimensional structural analyses were performed for (1) 0.5-mm long sections at the proximal and distal sites in cortical bone of the tibiae (37% and 75% of the bone’s length from its proximal end, respectively) and (2) trabecular bone sites 0.01–0.05 mm (mainly primary spongiosa) and 0.05–1.00 mm (secondary spongiosa) distal to the growth plate of the proximal tibiae. The parameters evaluated included cortical Quinapyramine bone volume and trabecular bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV). Histomorphometry After scanning by μCT, the bones were dehydrated and embedded in methyl methacrylate as previously described [25]. Transverse segments were obtained by cutting with an annular diamond saw. Images of calcein- and alizarin-labeled bone sections were visualized using an argon 488 nm laser and a HeNe 543 nm laser, respectively, on a MK 8931 mouse confocal laser scanning microscope (LSM 510; Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, Jena, Germany) at similar cortical regions as the FE analysis, sclerostin immunohistochemistry, and μCT analysis. Using ImageJ software (version 1.42; http://​rsbweb.​nih.