The osteopetrotic rabbit: general and skeletal features of a new outbred stock

Stock of the lethal osteopetrotic mutation in the rabbit has been outbred to robust New Zealand White stock. Features of this new stock include skeletal sclerosis and failure of tooth eruption characteristic of osteopetrosis, together with hypocalcemia, hypophosphatemia, and osteoclasts of reduced numbers and abnormal cytology. No abnormalities of carbonic anhydrase II were detectable by electrophoresis. The commercial availability of mutants of this new stock makes them a potentially important source of information about both osteopetrosis and osteoclast biology.