Fig. 2

Vegf-Aa knockdown by vegf-Aa-MO or miR-26a-5p mimic leads to edema and loss of plasma proteins. Zebrafish were either injected with control morpholino (CTRL-MO), a vegf-Aa morpholino (vegf-Aa-MO), a vegf-Ab morpholino (vegf-Ab-MO), a control miR mimic (miR-CTRL) or a miR-26a-5p mimic (miR-26a-5p) alone (−) or as co-injection with a recombinant zebrafish Vegf-Aa protein (Vegf-Aa) (+) at one to four cell stages. *p <  0.05, **p <  0.01, ***p < 0.001, n.s. not significant. (A) Phenotype pictures of zebrafish larvae at 96 hpf. Scale bar = 500 µM. (B) Quantification of edemous phenotype of zebrafish larvae at 96 hpf. The edemous phenotype was categorized in 4 groups: P1 = no edema, P2 = mild edema, P3 = severe edema, P4 = very severe edema, Dead fish are those found dead between 72 hpf and 96 hpf; CTRL-MO n = 15, vegf-Aa-MO n = 20, vegf-Aa-MO + Vegf-Aa n = 21, vegf-Ab-MO n = 16, vegf-Ab-MO + Vegf-Aa n = 16, miR-CTRL n = 16, miR-26a-5p n = 14, miR-26a-5p + Vegf-Aa n = 24, WT + Vegf-Aa n = 17, WT n = 18, total n = 177. (C) TaqMan qPCR for miR-26a-5p in whole zebrafish larvae lysate 120 h after injection of a miR-26a-5p mimic (miR-26a-5p) or a miR control (miR-CTRL) in one to four cell stage. ***p < 0.001. n = 12 for each group, total n = 36. (D) Survival of zebrafish over time. Survival is given in percent [%] of zebrafish of each group. a) Survival of zebrafish injected with a vegf-Aa morpholino (vegf-Aa-MO) in black versus co-injection of a vegf-Aa morpholino and a Vegf-Aa protein (vegf-Aa-MO + Vegf-Aa protein) in red; n = 64. b) Survival of zebrafish injected with a vegf-Ab morpholino (vegf-Ab-MO) in black versus co-injection of a vegf-Ab morpholino and a Vegf-Aa protein (vegf-Ab-MO + Vegf-Aa protein) in red; n = 62. c) Survival of zebrafish injected with a miR-26a-5p mimic (miR-26a-5p) in black versus co-injection of a miR-26a-5p mimic and a Vegf-Aa protein (miR-26a-5p + Vegf-Aa protein) in red; n = 69.