PUBLICATION
Functional bone histology of zebrafish reveals two types of endochondral ossification, different types of osteoblast clusters and a new bone type
- Authors
- Weigele, J., Franz-Odendaal, T.A.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-160610-5
- Date
- 2016
- Source
- Journal of anatomy 229: 92-103 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Franz-Odendaal, Tamara
- Keywords
- Danio rerio, acellular, bone, ossification, skeletogenesis, skeleton
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Bone and Bones/anatomy & histology*
- Osteoblasts/cytology*
- Osteogenesis*
- Zebrafish/anatomy & histology*
- PubMed
- 27278890 Full text @ J. Anat.
Citation
Weigele, J., Franz-Odendaal, T.A. (2016) Functional bone histology of zebrafish reveals two types of endochondral ossification, different types of osteoblast clusters and a new bone type. Journal of anatomy. 229:92-103.
Abstract
The zebrafish is as an important vertebrate animal model system for studying developmental processes, gene functions and signalling pathways. It is also used as a model system for the understanding of human developmental diseases including those related to the skeleton. However, surprisingly little is known about normal zebrafish skeletogenesis and osteogenesis. As in most vertebrates, it is commonly known that the bones of adult zebrafish are cellular unlike that of some other teleosts. After careful histological analyses of each zebrafish adult bone, we identified several acellular bones, with no entrapped osteocytes in addition to several cellular bones. We show that both cellular and acellular bones can even occur within the same skeletal element and transitions between these two cell types can be found. Furthermore, we describe two types of osteoblast clusters during skeletogenesis and two different types of endochondral ossification. The epiphyseal plate, for example, lacks a zone of calcification and a degradation zone with osteoblasts. A new bone type that we term tubular bone was also identified. This bone is completely filled with adipose tissue, unlike spongy bones. This study provides important insight on how osteogenesis takes place in zebrafish, and especially on the transition from cellular to acellular bones. Overall, this study leads to a deeper understanding of the functional histological composition of adult zebrafish bones.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping