Growth plate abnormalities in Dym-mutant mice. Sections of proximal tibial and distal femoral epiphysis were examined in wild-type (A, C, E, G, I, L, O) and mutant (B, D, F, H, J, M, P, Q) mice at 2 weeks (A and B), 1 month (C–N), and 6 months of age (O–Q). Sections were stained with either Gomori's trichrome blue (A–D, O–Q) or safranin O (E–H), or were analyzed for BrdU incorporation (I and J) or for caspase 3 expression (L and M). Several islands of chondrocytes within ossified regions (*), and BrdU- and caspase-positive cells (arrows) are indicated. The graphs display the percentage of cells in the proliferative or hypertrophic zones that stained for BrdU incorporation (K) or caspase 3 expression (N), respectively.