Fig. 5
The vasculature is not essential for the initial establishment of pancreatic islet parasympathetic innervation. (A) Immunostaining analysis of innervation density in Tg(kdrl:GFP) wild-type and cloche mutants at 80 hpf. (B) Wild-type and cloche-/- larvae were imaged at 80 hpf. (C) Body length measurements at 80 hpf, mean ± SEM, n = 21–27 animals. (D) Whole larva free glucose level measurements at 80 hpf, mean ± SEM, n = 12 batches of five larvae per replicate. (E–I) Whole mount immunostaining at 80 hpf for GFP (blood vessels), acetylated Tubulin (nerves), Somatostatin (delta cells), and DAPI (DNA). Maximum intensity projections are presented; A, anterior; D, dorsal. Quantification of islet nerve density (G), mean ± SEM, n = 9–10 animals, p-values from t tests are presented. No significant difference in vagus nerve extension and islet innervation was observed between wild-type and cloche-/- larvae. VR, right vagus nerve; VL, left vagus nerve; P, pancreas; I, intestine. |