"Bone Research Protocols is a most welcome compilation of methods. In it, many of the most productive laboratories in some of the most challenging areas of cell biology reveal detailed protocols that have been used to solve key problems. Short of spending a sabbatical in one of the eminent laboratories that contributed, this volume provides the best possible introduction to these methods." - TRENDS in Endocrinology and Metabolism

• Culture of Osteolblasts and Osteocytes.- Human Osteoblast Culture.- Osteoblast Isolation from Murine Calvariae and Long Bones.- Mineralizing Fibroblast-Colony-Forming Assays.- Osteocyte Isolation and Culture.- Culture of Osteoclasts.- Isolated Osteoclast Cultures.- Primary Isolation and Culture of Chicken Osteoclasts.- Isolation and Purification of Rabbit Osteoclasts.- Generating Human Osteoclasts from Peripheral Blood.- Generating Human Osteoclasts In Vitro from Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood.- Generating Murine Osteoclasts from Bone Marrow.- Osteoclast Formation in the Mouse Coculture Assay.- RANKL-Mediated Osteoclast Formation from Murine RAW 264.7 Cells.- Bone Organ Culture.- Analysis of Osteoclast Function in Mouse Calvarial Cultures.- Assessing Bone Formation Using Mouse Calvarial Organ Cultures.- Histological and Ultrastructural Techniques.- In Situ Hybridization and In Situ Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction in Human Bone Sections.- Techniques for the Study of Apoptosis in Bone.- Protein Localization in Wax-Embedded and Frozen Sections of Bone Using Immunohistochemistry.- Detection of Noncollagenous Bone Proteins in Methylmethacrylate-Embedded Human Bone Sections.- Fluorescence Imaging of Bone-Resorbing Osteoclasts by Confocal Microscopy.- Bone Histomorphometry.- Transmission Electron Microscopy of Bone.- Scanning Electron Microscopy of Bone.- Imaging Techniques.- Bone Measurements by Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography in Rodents.- In Vivo Techniques.- Studies of Local Bone Remodeling.- Inflammation-Induced Osteoporosis.- Ovariectomy and Estrogen Replacement in Rodents.- Mechanical Loading Techniques.- Mechanical Testing of Bone Ex Vivo.- Bone Cell Responses to Fluid Flow.- Methods for Analyzing Bone Cell Responses to Mechanical Loading Using In Vitro Monolayer and Organ Culture Models.- Molecular Analysis.- Extraction of Nucleic Acids from Bone.- Analysis of Gene Expression in Bone by Quantitative RT-PCR.