Insights into the effects of vibration on skeletal development and growth in teleosts

Abstract

Teleosts are superb models to study development and growth because their entire life history can be studied in a laboratory setting. The objective of this research is to understand the impacts of the external environment, namely whole body low frequency vibrations on skeletal development. We exposed zebrafish larvae at different stages of development to low frequency vibrations by placing them on a custom built vibration instrument for four days. Our results show age‐related and bone‐type specific effects. For example, some cartilages of the caudal fin were affected while others were not. This data suggests that chondrogenic cell progenitors are capable of sensing and reacting to mechanical stimuli early during development. Furthermore, we show that this effect is sox9‐independent. In summary, this data shows that there is a critical window during early caudal fin development that is susceptible to environmental influence. The plasticity of the skeleton to respond to and adapt to external influence is remarkable. These responses often have lasting impacts on the resulting phenotype and provides a hint at how development influences evolution.