Single optical section of the sheep knee cartilage collected ex vivo following the topical application of fluorescein sodium (0.5% in PBS pH 7.4; Pharmalab). Confocal microscopy enables imaging of the cells called chondrocytes which are embedded within the matrix in small lacunae. Cartilage tissue does not contain any blood vessels or lymphatics.
Staining of cartilage tissue with a different fluorescent contrast agent enables imaging of different structures. Following the topical application of calcein-AM (5 uM in DMSO diluted in PBS pH 7.4; Molecular Probes), confocal microscopy enables imaging of the chondrocytes contained within the lacunae of cartilage.
Images courtesy of Chris Jones, Department of mechanical engineering, University or Western Australia, Perth, Australia and Dr Wendy McLaren, Department of Pharmacology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
