Thesis advisor: Sarah K. McMenamin / Thesis advisor: Vicki Losick / Proper bone development requires coordination and timing of specific morphogenetic events, and relative shifts in these temporal processes can change morphology. Thyroid hormone (TH) plays an important role in regulating the timing of vertebrate skeletogenesis, and the hormone induces the profound skeletal shape changes that occur during amphibian metamorphosis. Like humans, zebrafish do not undergo an ecological metamorphosis; yet TH is essential in coordinating postembryonic developmental processes. In particular, several elements of the craniofacial skeleton that continue to ossify and remodel during later stages of development are sensitive to TH titer. My aims focus on the role of TH in regulating skeletal growth and shape changes in zebrafish. To examine changes in the entire zebrafish skeleton during normal postembryonic development, I generated a skeletal reference of microCT scans of zebrafish ranging from early juvenile through adult stages (Chapter 2). After defining the normal changes that wild-type zebrafish undergo, I hypothesized that TH coordinates the developmental shape changes and determined the role of TH in stimulating developmental shape change in zebrafish skulls and its effects on skeletogenic cell populations (Chapter 3). Finally, I investigated whether phenotypes induced by altered TH levels mirror some of the evolutionary diversity seen across Danioninae craniofacial skeletons (Chapter 4). My research elucidates the role of TH in the regulation of bone growth and shape change in a vertebrate system and provides new insights into the natural craniofacial diversity of Danioninae. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Biology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_109902 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Nguyen, Stacy Vy |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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