Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Sustained release PLGA microspheres loaded with a bone-affinity Bmp2 enhance fracture healing and mitigate heterotopic ossification

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.02.050

Figure Lengend Snippet: D-Bmp2@M accelerates fracture healing in mice and reduces ectopic osteogenesis. a. Schematic of the fracture treatment procedure: C57BL/6 mice underwent transverse femoral fracture induction followed by 28-day treatment. b. Representative X-ray images of the fracture healing process at different time points: white arrows (fracture location), red arrows (early callus), blue dotted lines (femur boundary), yellow dotted lines (callus boundary), and yellow arrows (ectopic ossification). Scale bar: 5 mm. c. Micro-CT 3D reconstruction of femurs on day 28 post-treatment; yellow arrows highlight heterotopic ossification; COR (coronal), SAG (sagittal), and TRA (transverse) Scale bar: 1 mm. d-g. Micro-CT quantitative analysis: (d) BMD, (e) BV, (f) TV, and (g) the BV/TV ratio of the fracture callus (n = 6 per group). The data are presented as the means ± SDs. One-way ANOVA was used for multiple comparisons. Significance levels: ns (not significant), ∗ p < 0.05, ∗∗ p < 0.01, ∗∗∗∗ p < 0.0001.

Article Snippet: Female C57BL/6 mice (8 weeks old) were purchased from Vital River Laboratories (Beijing, China) and randomly grouped for subsequent experiments.

Techniques: Micro-CT

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Sustained release PLGA microspheres loaded with a bone-affinity Bmp2 enhance fracture healing and mitigate heterotopic ossification

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.02.050

Figure Lengend Snippet: D-Bmp2@M accelerates fracture healing in osteoporotic mice. a. Schematic of the osteoporotic fracture treatment procedure: C57BL/6 mice underwent bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) to establish an osteoporosis model, followed by transverse femoral fracture induction and 28 days of treatment. b. Representative X-ray images of the fracture healing process at different time points and Micro-CT 3D reconstruction of femurs on day 28 post-treatment: white arrows (fracture location), red arrows (early callus), blue dotted lines (femur boundary), and yellow dashed lines (callus boundary). Scale bar of x-ray: 5 mm; Scale bar of 3D reconstruction: 1 mm. c. Quantitative analysis of the fracture callus BMD and BV/TV (normal PBS Ctrl group data from PBS group in d–g) (n = 6 per group). d. Representative H&E staining images and representative Masson's trichrome staining images of fracture calluses at 28 days. Scale bar: 50 μm. e. Quantification of the callus area/total bone area ratio and quantification of the new bone area/total bone area ratio (n = 6 per group). f, g. Representative IFHC images of the callus region at 28 days and quantification of the relative fluorescence intensities: (f) The white dotted line represents the boundary between the callus and muscles (M: muscle, C: callus); Runx2 (red), ALP (green), and DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 μm; (g) Quantification of the relative fluorescence intensities of Runx2 and ALP (n = 6 per group). h, i. Representative IFHC images of the callus region at 28 days and quantification of the relative fluorescence intensities: (h) The white dotted line represents the boundary between the callus and muscles (M: muscle, C: callus); Sp7 (red), ALP (green), and DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 μm; (i) Quantification of the relative fluorescence intensities of Sp7 and ALP (n = 6 per group). The data are presented as the means ± standard deviations (SDs). Unpaired Student's t -test was used for two-group comparisons. One-way ANOVA was used for multiple comparisons. Significance levels: ∗ p < 0.05, ∗∗∗∗ p < 0.0001.

Article Snippet: Female C57BL/6 mice (8 weeks old) were purchased from Vital River Laboratories (Beijing, China) and randomly grouped for subsequent experiments.

Techniques: Micro-CT, Staining, Fluorescence, Muscles

Journal: STAR Protocols

Article Title: Protocol for mapping murine myeloid bone marrow progenitors and their differentiation into CD103 + cDC1s and CD301b + cDC2s

doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2026.104508

Figure Lengend Snippet: From mouse preparation to single cell bone marrow cell suspension (A) Fixation of a euthanized C57BL/6 J mouse to the preparation table. (B) Opening of the abdominal wall. (C and D) Proximal to distal cuts in the direction of the extremities. (E–G) Removal of leg-covering skin and fur. (H) Hip dislocation. (I) Left: Isolation of hindlegs. Bottom: Close-up of the incision. Right: Isolated leg. (J) Left: Feet removal by rotating and pulling. Right: Feet removal by cutting at the ankle joint. (K) Reference picture of connected (left) and disconnected (right) tibia and femur after tissue removal and bone cleaning. (L) Opening of femurs at both ends to allow for flushing out bone marrow. (M) Opening of tibias to allow for flushing out bone marrow. (N) Bone marrow isolation. (O) Reference example of femur (left) and tibia (right). Before flushing (below) and after flushing of bone marrow (above). (P) Left: Correct overlay of the cell suspension on top of Lympholyte-M, without mixing. Right: Lymphocytes collected at the interface after gradient centrifugation.

Article Snippet: C57BL/6 J wildtype mice (female, between 8-15 weeks of age) , Charles River , #C57/BL6′′J′′.

Techniques: Single Cell, Suspension, Isolation, Gradient Centrifugation

Journal: STAR Protocols

Article Title: Protocol for mapping murine myeloid bone marrow progenitors and their differentiation into CD103 + cDC1s and CD301b + cDC2s

doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2026.104508

Figure Lengend Snippet: Identification of myeloid progenitors in murine bone marrow (A) Annotation of myeloid progenitors in bone marrow single cell suspensions of C57BL/6 J mice via flow cytometry. The provided annotation approach is based on the combined work of Liu et al. and Schlitzer et al. (B) Dimensionality reduction via Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) of 30,000 cells from CD45+DAPI-LIN- cells. Gates in (A) were mapped onto the UMAP and color coded (left) while visualizing the expression of population defining markers as expression heat maps (right). Unbiased analysis was performed using the FlowJo plugins downsample and UMAP. LIN=lineage; UMAP=uniform manifold approximation and projection; CMP=common myeloid progenitor; GMP=granulocyte-macrophage progenitor; GP=granulocyte progenitor; cMoP=common monocyte progenitor; M.=monocytes; MDP=monocyte-dendritic cell progenitor; CDP=common dendritic cell progenitor.

Article Snippet: C57BL/6 J wildtype mice (female, between 8-15 weeks of age) , Charles River , #C57/BL6′′J′′.

Techniques: Single Cell, Flow Cytometry, Expressing