Re-evaluating the functional landscape of the cardiovascular system during development.

ABSTRACT: The cardiovascular system facilitates body-wide distribution of oxygen, a vital process for the development and survival of virtually all vertebrates. However, the zebrafish, a vertebrate model organism, appears to form organs and survive mid-larval periods without a functional cardiovascular system. Despite such dispensability, it is the first organ to develop. Such enigma prompted us to hypothesize other cardiovascular functions that are important for developmental and/or physiological processes. Hence, systematic cellular ablations and functional perturbations were performed on the zebrafish cardiovascular system to gain comprehensive and body-wide understanding of such functions and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. This approach identifies a set of organ-specific genes, each imp

SUBMITTER: Takada N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5703621 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature