Fig. 2

The knockdown of TERT in the zebrafish embryo results in severe cytopenia and in the impaired differentiation of hematopoietic cells.

(A) Induction of apoptosis in hematopoietic cells of the zebrafish embryo. Both a low magnification of the whole body and higher magnification of the trunk region are shown in (a) and (c), respectively. White squares in the low magnification images designate the regions shown in the higher magnification images in the adjoining right panels. (a) Apoptotic cells were detected by a TUNEL assay of the ventral wall of the dorsal aorta (VW-DA) (shown by green arrow heads in the right panel) at 28 hpf. (b) Quantification of the TUNEL-positive cells in the ventral wall of dorsal aorta (VW-DA) at 28 hpf. The number of TUNEL-positive cells was estimated within the gated area indicated by the green dashed rectangle at the upper yolk extension. (c) Apoptotic cells were detected by a TUNEL assay of the caudal venous plexus (CVP) (shown by green arrow heads in the right panel) at 48 hpf. (d) Quantification of the TUNEL-positive cells detected in the CVP at 48 hpf. The quantity of TUNEL-positive cells was assessed.within the gated area indicated by the green dashed rectangle at the anatomical CVP region. (e) Detection of apoptosis in gata-1^GFP-positive hematopoietic cells. Transverse sections through the trunk region of 48-hpf gata-1^GFP embryos with the dorsal up are shown. The caudal artery (CA; upper) and caudal vein (CV; lower) are shown by orange arrow heads in the panels. By TUNEL assay, gata-1^GFP-positive apoptotic cells in the CV are evident and indicated by white arrows. (B) Lateral views of 48, 72 and 120 hpf embryos following the co-injection of zTERT-MO1 (or Cont-MO1) and GFP-zTERT-cDNA (or GFP-cDNA) expression vectors (a–l); black arrowheads indicate the heart regions. Bright field pictures of blood cells in trunks of 72 hpf embryos after co-injection of zTERT-MO1 or Cont-MO1 and either a GFP-cDNA or GFP-zTERT-cDNA vector (m–p). The upper vessel is the dorsal artery (from left to right arrows) and the lower vessel is the posterior cardinal vein (from right to left arrows). (C) Quantitation of the circulating blood cell number in zTERT-MO- (blue circle) versus Cont-MO- (black open circle) injected embryos during 28–72 hpf (a). (b) Calculation of the percentage of the control circulating blood cell numbers at 72 hpf after co-injection of zTERT-MO or Cont-MO and either a GFP-control or GFP-zTERT-cDNA vector. Blood cell numbers were determined for 10 embryos from each group. (D) Whole-mount o-dianisidine staining for heme detection in uninjected, Cont-MO1- and zTERT-MO1-injected embryos during 32–168 hpf. Blood flow over the yolk sac and in the tail vessels results in brown staining in wild type (data not shown) and Cont-MO1-injected embryos during 32–168 hpf (ventral view). (E) H&E staining of blood cells in tissue sections of the arteries or veins of Cont-MO1- and TERT-MO1-injected embryos at 33 and 48 hpf, and Wright-Giemsa staining of isolated blood cells from Cont-MO1- and TERT-MO1-injected embryos at 48 hpf.