Lateral bone ridge expansion and internal tissue replacement for vertebral body growth in Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis

Vertebral growth is an essential developmental process to support the expansion of the vertebrate body. In teleosts, the lateral side of the vertebral bodies develops to form different structures among species in the late stages of vertebral growth, although lateral structures are not apparent in the early stages. Lateral structures are one of the structural features that determine the diversity of teleost vertebrae. However, explanations for the formation of lateral structures are conflicting because few reports have investigated the growth of teleost vertebral bodies. To clarify the growth process, we analyzed the morphological changes in the vertebral body of Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis at different developmental stages using micro-computed tomography (CT) scans. The micro-CT scans showed that the vertebral centrum formed a plate-like ridge on the lateral side along the cranial–caudal direction and extended laterally with increasing thickness. Simultaneously, the proximal region of the lateral ridges became porous as the vertebrae grew to form bone marrow cavities. Furthermore, we used histological observations to describe the relationship between these morphological changes and osteoblast and osteoclast activities. Osteoblasts accumulated on the distal edges of the lateral ridges, whereas osteoclasts were distributed in the bone marrow cavities. These observations suggest that bone resorption occurs proximally to form bone marrow cavities in addition to bone synthesis at the edges of the lateral ridges. The bone marrow cavities were occupied by blood vessels, extracellular matrix, and adipocytes, and the internal tissue composition changed to increase the area of adipose tissue. Because the ratio of bone volume decreases in large vertebrae, bone formation and resorption are regulated to separate the external cortical and internal trabecular bones to support the vertebrae. This study is the first to report the formation of lateral structures and can be applied to similar lateral structures in the vertebrae of other teleost species.