Hyaloid vasculature and mmp2 activity play a role during optic fissure fusion in zebrafish.

ABSTRACT: Vertebrate retinal development requires timely and precise fusion of the optic fissure (OF). Failure of this event leads to congenital vision impairment in the form of coloboma. Recent studies have suggested hyaloid vasculature to be involved in OF fusion. In order to examine this link, we analyzed OF fusion and hyaloid vasculogenesis in the zebrafish pax2a noi mutant line. We first determined that pax2a^-/- embryos fail to accumulate F-actin in the OF prior to basement membrane (BM) degradation. Furthermore, using 3D and live imaging we observed reduced OF hyaloid vascularization in pax2a^-/- embryos. When examining the connection between pax2a loss of function and hyaloid vasculature, we observed significant reduction of talin1 expression, a regulator of hyaloid vascu

SUBMITTER: Weaver ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7311462 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature