Fig. 5

Hair cells are continuously lost and replaced in adult zebrafish lateral line. (A) Representative z-stack confocal maximum projection images of an adult Tg(myo6b:NLS-Eos) peduncle stitch (5 neuromasts shown) before photo-activation, or PA (left panel), immediately after PA (middle panel), and 6 days after PA (right panel). Because Eos is under the control of the myo6b promoter, green Eos is continuously produced therefore hair cells that were present at the time of photo-activation will have both green and red Eos present producing orange/yellow colored nuclei. Scale bar, 10 µM. (B) Fish were treated without or with neomycin to synchronize hair cell age through hair cell regeneration; then nuclear localized Eos was laser activated in all hair cells and followed over time. The results are graphed for the two pulse-chase hair cell turnover experiments, one without hair cell age synchronization and the other with. Dotted lines represent averages per neuromast (±s.d.) of hair cells that were present at the time of Eos protein activation (red) or hair cells generated post-Eos laser activation (green) without neomycin treatment. N=3 adult zebrafish, 20 neuromasts. Solid lines represent averages per neuromast (±s.d.) of hair cells that were present at the time of Eos protein activation (red) or hair cells generated post-Eos activation (green) with neomycin-induced hair cell age synchronization. N=3 adult zebrafish, 17 neuromasts.