Fig. 5: Mice lacking osteoclasts do not display changes in fetal liver hematopoiesis.

a Numbers of the indicated cells in the E14.5 fetal liver from fetuses from dams treated with IgG or anti-CD115 as in Fig. 4a. LT-HSC = Lin^-Sca1⁺CD117⁺Flt3^-CD48^-CD150⁺ Long-term hematopoietic stem cells, CFU-E Colony forming unit erythrocyte progenitors, Ery Erythroblasts, Retics Reticulocytes, RBC erythrocytes. b Breeding strategy to generate fetuses lacking osteoclasts (Rank^Δ/Δ). c Representative pentachrome-stained E18.5 femur sections and quantifications from Rank^Δ/Δ mice and littermate controls showing reduced bone marrow cavity (control n = 10, Rank^Δ/Δ= 5) and hematopoietic cells per femur (control n = 11, Rank^Δ/Δ= 4) in Rank^Δ/Δ mice. d, e Representative images and quantification showing lack of VCAM1 expression and loss of Ly6C⁺ monocyte and neutrophil recruitment to the E18.5 Rank^Δ/Δ marrow. f, g Number of indicated cells in the E18.5 fetal liver from Rank^Δ/Δ or littermate control fetuses. h Percentage of CD45.2⁺ cell engraftment after transplantation of 50 Lin^-Sca1⁺CD117⁺Flt3^-CD48^-CD150⁺ CD45.2⁺ LT-HSC purified from Rank^Δ/Δ or littermate controls. The dots show the mean, and the error bars the SEM. n = 6 ctrl and 4 Rank^Δ/Δ recipients in 2 independent experiments. For all other panels and unless otherwise indicated: p values are shown, each dot corresponds to one fetus, and statistical differences were calculated using a two-tailed Student’s t-test if the distributions were normal or Mann-Whitney if not normal. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.