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Use of Primary Calvarial Osteoblasts to Evaluate the Function of Wnt Signaling in Osteogenesis

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Wnt Signaling

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1481))

Abstract

In vitro culture and genetic manipulation of primary calvarial cell cultures is a convenient and robust system to investigate gene function in osteoblast differentiation. We have used this system to study the functions of many genes in the Wnt signaling pathway within osteoblasts. Here, we describe a detailed protocol outlining the establishment and characterization of primary calvarial cells from mice carrying a conditionally inactivatable allele of the Wntless (Wls) gene (Wls flox/flox). We previously used this approach to delete the Wntless gene by infecting with a Cre-expressing adenovirus, and to evaluate the effects of Wnt signaling loss on osteogenic potential in osteogenic medium with ascorbic acid. This detailed protocol is adaptable to use with any floxed allele.

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Correspondence to Bart O. Williams .

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Zhong, Z.A., Ethen, N.J., Williams, B.O. (2016). Use of Primary Calvarial Osteoblasts to Evaluate the Function of Wnt Signaling in Osteogenesis. In: Barrett, Q., Lum, L. (eds) Wnt Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1481. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6393-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6393-5_13

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6391-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6393-5

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