Medaka Osteoclast

During space flight bone mineral density is decreased by the influence of osteoclast activation which molecular mechanism is expectantly investigated. In the study of medaka bone development we investigated the system of vertebra formation and firstly identified the presence of osteoclasts in medaka. Moreover osteoclast rsorbing activity was affected by hypergravity indicating the possibility that we can investigate the effect of microgravity on osteoclasts in space. To find this effect we examine the alteration of osteoclast activity under microgravity with the histological analysis or the expression analysis by RNA in-situ hybridization. Furthermore since we have succeeded the establishment of the medaka osteoclast-specific transgenic lines we perform the in-vivo imaging analyses for gene expression and cell mobility. Finally to examine the gravity sensing system we employ tooth and bone as the high density organs which are highly sensitive to gravity and perform the histological analysis and the gene expression analysis of such gravity-sensitive tissues at surrounding pharyngeal teeth and supporting bone.