Abstract
After the initial formation of a highly branched vascular plexus, blood vessel pruning generates a hierarchically structured network with improved flow characteristics. We report here on the cellular events that occur during the pruning of a defined blood vessel in the eye of developing zebrafish embryos. Time-lapse imaging reveals that the connection of a new blood vessel sprout with a previously perfused multicellular endothelial tube leads to the formation of a branched, Y-shaped structure. Subsequently, endothelial cells in parts of the previously perfused branch rearrange from a multicellular into a unicellular tube, followed by blood vessel detachment. This process is accompanied by endothelial cell death. Finally, we show that differences in blood flow between neighboring vessels are important for the completion of the pruning process. Our data suggest that flow induced changes in tubular architecture ensure proper blood vessel pruning.
Highlights
The vasculature is the first organ system to form during embryonic development and meets the challenge to grow and refine while it is already functioning
We show that blood flow is an important regulator of the pruning event
Our results suggest that loss of perfusion in itself does not lead to blood vessel pruning, but that pruning might be facilitated by the establishment of differences in blood flow between vessels in a branch point
Summary
The vasculature is the first organ system to form during embryonic development and meets the challenge to grow and refine while it is already functioning. We use time-lapse imaging to analyze the cellular mechanisms that take place during the pruning of a defined blood vessel in the eye of zebrafish embryos. We observed a collapse of endothelial lumen in the dorsal CrDI (Figure 1E, arrowhead), followed by blood vessel regression (Figure 1E, F, arrowheads).
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