Biomarkers of bone resorption and osteoclast differentiation potential are not affected by <i>Spon1</i>⁻^<i>/</i>− deletion.

<p>(A) Serum levels of TRAP and CTX-1 in 6 month (n = 12) and 12 month (n = 6) old male mice. (B) <i>In vitro</i> osteoclast differentiation of non-adherent bone marrow cells isolated from male WT and KO littermates. Images show TRAP positive osteoclasts 6 days after stimulation with RANKL and MCSF. Cell numbers represent average counts from 5 separate fields using a 20x objective (n = 4). Only positively stained cells with >3 nuclei were counted. (C) Relative mRNA levels, determined by RT-qPCR of osteoclast marker genes, following induction of differentiation (n = 4). Data represent mean values from 4 littermate pairs.