Ultrastructure of the osteogenesis of acellular vertebral bone in the Japanese medaka, Oryzias latipes (teleostei, cyprinidontidae)

An ultrastructural study by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the vertebrae of embryonic, larval, juvenile and mature medaka shows that each vertebra consists of a core of notochordal cells surrounded by a sheath of bone. The vertebral bone lacks either fully or partially embedded cells in the matrix throughout development. Bone matrix is secreted by a layer of cells that lies over the outer surface of the vertebral bone. During the early stages of osteogenesis, these cells secrete bone matrix all around themselves. However, because of the gradual flow of the newly synthesized bone matrix through intercellular spaces, matrix‐producing cells do not become trapped in their own secretion. In later stages of osteogenesis, these cells secrete matrix only toward the already‐deposited bone. This polarized matrix secretion allows the osteoblasts to stay always on the bone surface and never to become trapped in the matrix as osteocytes.