Fig. 4

Knockdown of Vegfr2 receptors kdr and kdrl leads to disruptions in islet vessel development. (a) Phenotypic score of islet vessels in non-injected, control morpholino, and kdr, kdrl, or kdr/kdrl morpholino injected Tg(fli1:EGFP; insa:tagRFP)embryos. (b) The number of beta-cells in 72 hpf Tg(fli1:EGFP; insa:tagRFP) control and morpholino injected embryos. In the kdr/kdrl morpholino injected embryos, only the embryos that demonstrated a reduction or absence of islet vessels were counted. Box-and-whisker plots show median, and circles represent individual zebrafish. n = 17–24. (c–e) Relative expression of (c) insa, (d) pdx1, and (e) neuroD in isolated beta-cells of control injected and kdr/kdrl morpholino injected Tg(fli1:EGFP; insa:tagRFP) embryos at 72 hpf. All values were normalized to ef1α. *p < 0.0001 by Student’s t-test. (f–j) Confocal projections of (f) non-injected, (g) control injected, (h) kdr, (i) kdrl, or (j) kdr/kdrl morpholino injected embryos at 72 hpf; endothelial cells (green), beta-cells (red), and DAPI (grey). Scale bar = 10 μm.