PUBLICATION

Zebrafish as a model to study chemokine function

Authors
Kochhan, E., and Siekmann, A.F.
ID
ZDB-PUB-130604-13
Date
2013
Source
Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)   1013: 145-159 (Chapter)
Registered Authors
Siekmann, Arndt Friedrich
Keywords
zebrafish, chemokine signalling, confocal time-lapse imaging, angiography, fluorescent in situ hybridization
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Cell Tracking
  • Chemokines/genetics
  • Chemokines/metabolism*
  • Chemotaxis
  • Endothelial Cells/immunology
  • Endothelial Cells/metabolism
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
  • Luminescent Proteins/genetics
  • Luminescent Proteins/metabolism
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Models, Animal
  • Mutation
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic
  • Perfusion Imaging
  • Receptors, CXCR4/genetics
  • Receptors, CXCR4/metabolism
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins/metabolism
  • Regional Blood Flow
  • Time Factors
  • Time-Lapse Imaging
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics
  • Zebrafish/immunology
  • Zebrafish/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
PubMed
23625497 Full text @ Meth. Mol. Biol.
Abstract

Zebrafish have emerged as a powerful model organism to study embryo morphogenesis. Due to their optical clarity, they are uniquely suited for time-lapse imaging studies, providing insights into the dynamic processes underlying tissue formation and cell migration. These studies have been tremendously facilitated by the availability of transgenic zebrafish lines, labelling distinct embryonic structures, individual cells, or even subcellular structures, such as the nucleus. Zebrafish studies have revealed that the migration of several different cell types in the embryo is controlled by chemokines, small vertebrate-specific proteins. Here, we report methods to analyze the expression pattern of a given chemokine and its receptor in transgenic zebrafish using fluorescent in situ hybridization in combination with an anti-green fluorescent protein (GFP) antibody staining. We furthermore illustrate how to image migrating cell populations using time-lapse microscopy in double-transgenic embryos. We show how to investigate cell number and direction of migration by using a nuclear-localized GFP. The combination of this transgene with a membrane-targeted red fluorescent protein allows for the simultaneous determination of changes in cell shape, such as the formation of filopodial extensions. We exemplify this by describing how a mutation in the chemokine receptor cxcr4a affects endothelial cell migration and blood vessel formation. Finally, we provide a method to perform fluorescent angiography to monitor blood vessel perfusion in chemokine receptor mutants.

Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping