Figure 1

Experimental treatment groups and experiment design. (a) Male mice were assigned to groups (n = 10/group) and pre-fed with either a control diet (CD) or dried plum diet (DP). Mice were assigned to the following groups: 14 days of normally loaded conditions (NL) (Groups 1,2), hindlimb unloading (HU) alone (Groups 3,4), or HU in combination with ionizing radiation (IR), at a dose of 2 Gy ¹³⁷Cs (0.8 Gy/min) (Groups 5, 6, 7, 8). (b) Mice were pre-fed with either CD or DP diets 14 days before onset of HU treatment, mice were exposed to IR 3 days after onset of HU, and samples were collected 14 days after initiation of HU treatment. At time of tissue collection (day 14), bone marrow cells were flushed from the femora’s of groups 1, 2, 3, 4 (n = 5/group) and cultured for 30 days for osteoblastogenesis (OB).