Vegfc is required for vascular development and endoderm morphogenesis in zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: During embryogenesis, complex morphogenetic events lead endodermal cells to coalesce at the midline and form the primitive gut tube and associated organs. While several genes have recently been implicated in endoderm differentiation, we know little about the genes that regulate endodermal morphogenesis. Here, we show that vascular endothelial growth factor C (Vegfc), an angiogenic as well as a lymphangiogenic factor, is unexpectedly involved in this process in zebrafish. Reducing Vegfc levels using morpholino antisense oligonucleotides, or through overexpression of a soluble form of the VEGFC receptor, VEGFR-3, affects the coalescence of endodermal cells in the anterior midline, leading to the formation of a forked gut tube and the duplication of the liver and pancreatic buds. Further anal

SUBMITTER: Ober EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1298958 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature