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Skull development during anuran metamorphosis

II. Role of thyroid hormone in osteogenesis

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Summary

We examined the role of thyroid hormone (TH) in mediating cranial ossification during metamorphosis in the Oriental fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. Exogenous T3 (3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine) was administered in three treatment dosages (0.025, 0.25, and 2.5 μg) plus a control dosage via plastic micropellets implanted within the dermis of tadpoles of three Gosner developmental stages: 28/29, 30/31, 32/33. Tadpoles were recovered after 2, 4, 6, and 8 d, and scored for the presence of three bones —median parasphenoid and paired frontoparietals and exoccipitals—as seen in cleared-and-stained, whole-mount preparations. T3 induced precocious ossification in both a stage-dependent and a dosage-dependent manner; stage dependence corresponded precisely with the degree of osteogenic differentiation at the time of hormone administration. Precocious ossification thus was due to the T3-promoted growth and calcified matrix deposition of these centers. Differential TH sensitivity among osteogenic sites may underlie both the temporal cranial ossification sequences characteristic of metamorphosing amphibians as well as sequence differences commonly observed among taxa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, 80309-0334, Boulder, CO, USA

    James Hanken

  2. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, B3H 4J1, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Brian K. Hall

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  1. James Hanken
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  2. Brian K. Hall
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Hanken, J., Hall, B.K. Skull development during anuran metamorphosis. Anat Embryol 178, 219–227 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318225

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