Fig. 7
Expression of sp7 is detected in operculum, cleithrum, teeth and parasphenoid (A). Note the absence of expression in cleithrum and operculum in ablated larvae (B). runx2b and dlx2b display the same expression pattern before ablation (C, E) and after ablation (D, F). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of early (runx2b), intermediate (sp7) and late (sparc) stage markers of osteoblast differentiation in 7 dpf ablated (black bars) and control larvae (white bars) (G). Results show significant down-regulation of sparc gene expression (*p <0.05) when compared with controls. Results normalized to actb1 are expressed as mean ± SEM. Abbreviations: ps, parasphenoid; op, operculum; cb5, ceratobranchial arch 5; t, teeth; cl, cleithrum. Scale bars: 100 μm.