A minimally invasive technique for serial intraosseous perfusion measurements in the murine tibia using laser Doppler...

In biomedical and preclinical research, the current standard method for measuring blood perfusion inside murine bone, radiolabeled microspheres, is a terminal procedure that cannot be used to monitor longitudinal perfusion changes. Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) can assess perfusion within the proximal tibial metaphysis of mice in vivo but requires a surgical procedure to place the measurement probe directly onto the bone surface. Sustained inflammation for over a month following this technique was previously reported, and previous studies have used LDF as an endpoint-only procedure. We developed a modified, minimally invasive LDF procedure to measure intraosseous perfusion in the murine tibia without stimulating local or systemic inflammation or inducing gait abnormalities. This modified technique can be used to measure perfusion weekly for up to at least a month in the murine tibia.•Unlike previous endpoint-only techniques, this modified LDF procedure can be performed weekly to monitor serial changes to intraosseous perfusion in the murine tibia•The modified LDF technique utilizes a smaller, more localized incision to minimize invasiveness and speed recovery.