Small molecule screen for compounds that affect vascular development in the zebrafish retina.

ABSTRACT: Blood vessel formation in the vertebrate eye is a precisely regulated process. In the human retina, both an excess and a deficiency of blood vessels may lead to a loss of vision. To gain insight into the molecular basis of vessel formation in the vertebrate retina and to develop pharmacological means of manipulating this process in a living organism, we further characterized the embryonic zebrafish eye vasculature, and performed a small molecule screen for compounds that affect blood vessel morphogenesis. The screening of approximately 2000 compounds revealed four small molecules that at specific concentrations affect retinal vessel morphology but do not produce obvious changes in trunk vessels, or in the neuronal architecture of the retina. Of these, two induce a pronounced widening of ve

SUBMITTER: Kitambi SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2775549 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature