Abstract
BackgroundZebrafish are able to regenerate many of its tissues and organs after damage. In amphibians this process is regulated by nerve fibres present at the site of injury, which have been proposed to release factors into the amputated limbs/fins, promoting and sustaining the proliferation of blastemal cells. Although some candidate factors have been proposed to mediate the nerve dependency of regeneration, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear.ResultsWe have used zebrafish as a model system to address the role of nerve fibres in fin regeneration. We have developed a protocol for pectoral fin denervation followed by amputation and analysed the regenerative process under this experimental conditions. Upon denervation fins were able to close the wound and form a wound epidermis, but could not establish a functional apical epithelial cap, with a posterior failure of blastema formation and outgrowth, and the accumulation of several defects. The expression patterns of genes known to be key players during fin regeneration were altered upon denervation, suggesting that nerves can contribute to the regulation of the Fgf, Wnt and Shh pathways during zebrafish fin regeneration.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that proper innervation of the zebrafish pectoral fin is essential for a successful regenerative process, and establish this organism as a useful model to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of nerve dependence, during vertebrate regeneration.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12861-014-0049-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Zebrafish are able to regenerate many of its tissues and organs after damage
Resection of the brachial plexus is effective to denervate zebrafish pectoral fin To determine whether zebrafish fin regeneration is dependent on a nerve supply, we developed an assay to ablate pectoral fin innervation by surgically removing part of the pectoral fin nerves, in the region of the brachial plexus (Figure1a)
In this report we describe an efficient protocol for zebrafish pectoral fin denervation, which allowed us to show that zebrafish fin regeneration is dependent on nerve supply and that the activity of several factors, known to be required for fin regeneration, is affected by fin denervation (Figure 9)
Summary
Zebrafish are able to regenerate many of its tissues and organs after damage In amphibians this process is regulated by nerve fibres present at the site of injury, which have been proposed to release factors into the amputated limbs/fins, promoting and sustaining the proliferation of blastemal cells. Zebrafish fins are commonly used in regeneration studies These appendages regenerate promptly after damage through a process that involves the coordination of diverse cellular mechanisms including migration, dedifferentiation, proliferation and patterning, to restore the shape, structure and function of the missing parts [3,4]. Within the following 10 to 15 days the interactions established between the AEC
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