Vascular integrity and endothelial survival are compromised in reh mutants due to increased apoptosis. (A-D) Confocal projections of 48 and 72 hpf Tg(kdrl:gfp);Tg(gata1:dsRed) (A,C) wild-type or (B,D) reh mutant zebrafish. Yellow arrow indicates extravasation of Tg(gata1:dsRed)-labeled blood. (E-L) Confocal sections of 48 and 72 hpf Tg(kdrl:gfp) wild-type (wt) and reh mutant zebrafish that were TUNEL stained (red) reveal that (F,H,J,L) reh endothelial cells exhibit increased apoptosis when compared with (E,G,I,K) wild-type endothelial cells. (I-L) Enlargements of boxed areas in E-H, respectively, show (J) increased cell death in not only reh endothelial cells (white arrows) but also in (L) cells surrounding these reh endothelial cells (white arrowheads) when compared with wild-type vasculature. (M,N) The number of apoptotic cells observed per high-power field for each condition. Mean+s.e.m. Student’s t-test, *P<0.05 (n=15 reh and wild-type zebrafish).
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