Ex Vivo Fluorescent Bone Stain?

Posted by John Sevick on
URL: http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Ex-Vivo-Fluorescent-Bone-Stain-tp7584365.html

*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
*****

Hello,

I'm very new to microscopy, so I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to be posing
this question:

I've been struggling to find a fluorescent bone mineral stain that functions ex vivo. In the
literature it seems that most stains (calcein, alizarin complexone, xylenol orange etc.) must
be injected in vivo to work properly – this is also what people in the lab have been telling
me.

Because I'm not familiar with how these stains work, I'm wondering if there is a fluorescent
stain that can be applied to mineralized tissue ex vivo (not necessarily cells, just the
mineralized matrix)?

I am trying to differentiate mineralized tissue from soft tissue of frozen, then thawed
samples using two-photon excitation microscopy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Johnathan Sevick, BASc| MSc Candidate
Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program | University of Calgary
Email: [hidden email]