Healing of non-displaced fractures produced by fatigue loading of the mouse ulna.

We developed a fatigue loading protocol in mice to produce a non-displaced ulnar fracture in vivo, and characterized the early healing response. Using adult (5 month) C57Bl/6 mice, we first determined that cyclic compression of the forelimb under load-control leads to increasing applied displacement and, eventually, complete fracture. We then subjected the right forelimbs of 80 mice to cyclic loading (2 Hz; peak force approximately 4N) and limited the displacement increase to 0.

Fibroblast growth factor expression during skeletal fracture healing in mice.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are important signaling molecules that regulate many stages of endochondral bone development. During the healing of a skeletal fracture, several features of endochondral bone development are reactivated. To better understand the role of FGFs in skeletal fracture healing, we quantitatively evaluated the temporal expression patterns of Fgfs, Fgf receptors (Fgfrs), and molecular markers of bone development over a 14-day period following long bone fracture in a mouse model.