Fig. 3
Figure 3. Mir152 mimics injected in zebrafish embryos causes ethmoidal plate defects analogue to clefts. (a) ethmoidal plates dissected from 5 dpf zebrafish larvae injected with mir152 mimics (superior) and mir152 inhibitor, mir152 mimics + inhibitor and non injected controls (inferior). mir152 mimics injections resulted in 30% of larvae with non-affected ethmoid plate (left), 28.5% of larvae with mildly affected ethmoid plate (central) and 41,5% of larvae with severe affected structures, including a cleft ethmoid plate (right). mir152 mimics injected embryos, n = 49. Both mir152 inhibitor injections and mimics + inhibitor combined injections resulted in no altered craniofacial structures with 100% of larvae with normal ethmoid plates. mir152 inhibitor injected embryos, n = 40; mimics + inhibitor injected embryos, n = 65. Control embryos, n = 107. b) Dorsal view of anterior portions of zebrafish larvae exemplifying non-affected, mildly affected, and severely affected phenotypes. White-dashed lines are positioned around the ethmoidal plates. eth: ethmoidal plate; mk: Meckel?s cartilage; pc: parachordal cartilage. c) Ethmoidal plate?s sizes in control (c) and injected conditions 6 ?M, 12.5 ?M, 25 ?M mir152 mimics and 25 ?M mir152 mimics + 25 ?M mir152 inhibitor). Trapezoids indicate means. Significant differences were found in comparison to controls in 6, 12.5, and 25 ?M mir152 mimics injections (p < 0.0001; ANOVA, Bonferroni).