Dr. Robert Brackenbury
One useful method for analyzing the growth and remodeling of bone is tetracycline labeling. In this procedure, patients, or experimental animals are administered doses of tetracycline at different times. Tetracycline binds to free calcium in newly deposited bone, but not to calcium in the hydroxyapatite crystals of mature bone. Subsequently, the bound tetracycline can be visualized under uv light in sections of biopsy material. Thus, double-labeling with tetracycline can be used to evaluate the rate of synthesis of new bone. This process is explained in greater detail, with an illustration, in a webpage provided by the The Johns Hopkins Bone Histomorphometry Laboratory.