Fig. 2

Deletion of FXR in MSCs causes delayed bone development and osteoporosis. a Illustration of osteoblast lineage-specific FXR knockout mice, which were generated via the crossbreeding of FXR^fl/fl mice with Prx1-Cre transgenic mice. b, c Representative double-stained with alcian blue and alizarin red S image of skeletal preparations from FXR^fl/fl and FXR^Prx1 newborns. Scale bar = 5 mm. d–j Representative micro-CT images of distal femurs in 8-week-old FXR^fl/fl and FXR^Prx1 mice with morphometric analysis of bone volume per tissue volume (BV/TV), bone mass density (BMD), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular number (Tb.N), trabecular spacing (Tb.Sp) and cortical thickness (Ct.Th) (n = 7). k–l Representative images of calcein double labeling from FXR^fl/fl and FXR^Prx1 mice (n = 4). Scale bar = 20 μm. CB means cortical bone. TB means trabecular bone. m–p Representative images and quantitative analysis of Alp staining and Alizarin red staining of BMSCs from FXR^fl/fl and FXR^Prx1 mice. Scale bar = 50 μm (n = 6). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Data are represented as mean ± SEM