Toluidine blue special stain - mouse ankle with type II collagen-induced arthritis, 100x

The primary endpoints for mouse type II collagen arthritis are body weight, paw swelling, and histology of a variety of joints (front and rear paws, ankles and knees) for inflammation, pannus cartilage damage and bone resorption. Collagen arthritic paws, ankles and knees are given scores of 0-5 for inflammation, pannus, cartilage damage and bone resorption according to defined criteria. When scoring paws or ankles from mice with lesions of type II collagen arthritis; severity of changes as well as number of individual joints affected must be considered. The stain most commonly used to evaluate this animal model is Toluidine Blue, but Safranin O - Fast Green or Hematoxylin and Eosin may also be used.