Fig. 9

Uprocessed ProVEGF-C inhibits fin regeneration.

(A) 24 h prior amputation of caudal fins (6 per group), empty vector (Control) or vector containing wild-type (wt) or mutant (mut) proVEGF-C constructs were injected in the fins and animals were allowed to regenerate at 28.5°C after fins amputation for 5 days. The microinjection of vector containing wild-type proVEGF-C had no effect on normal regeneration. In contrast, injection of the mutant proVEGF-C resulted in severe inhibition of fin regeneration. Results are representative of tree experiments. The corresponding percentages of regenerated area were deduced from the ratio of 100 x (fin surface regenerated in VEGF-Cwt)/(fin surface regenerated in Control) and 100 x (fin surface regenerated in VEGF-Cmut/fin surface regenerated in Control). (B) Total RNA derived from uncut fins was subjected to real-time PCR analysis using specific primers for the VEGF-C receptors R2, R3 or β-actin. During PCR, the transcription of β-actin that was evaluated in each sample was used as endogenous control. Results are shown in the bar graph and are expressed as the ratio of the indicated transcripts relative to R2 transcript assigned to 100%. Results are shown as means ± S.E. of three experiments performed in duplicate.