Tracking osteoclast cells during craniofacial development in wild-type zebrafish

Craniofacial development involves a wide variety of different cell types working in concert to generate adult structures. One of these cell types, the osteoclast, has not been well studied in the context of normal bone development in the craniofacial space. Our aim in generating this series of imaging data was to create an atlas of the distribution of osteoclast cells in the skull during critical periods of development. Through the use of daily low-magnification live confocal imaging on juvenile zebrafish we were able to track osteoclasts in individual fish over time. We were able to capture the majority of the skull using Z-stacks on the dorsal, ventral and lateral sides. This dataset allowed us to understand where and when osteoclasts appeared during craniofacial development with great granularity.