FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3

Anatomical study of bh^−/−;myl7: RFP double transgenic reveals atrial enlargement in bigheart. (A,B) 5dpf double transgenic (bh^+/−; myl7) fish embryo with red fluorescence protein expression in the normal heterozygous siblings heart (bh^+/−). (C,D)Bigheart mutant (bh^−/−; myl7) embryo with red fluorescence protein expression in the heart. (B,D) Zoomed images of the heart in transgenic, bh^+/+; myl7 and bh^−/−; myl7 embryos (Images were captured at ×5 magnification using Zeiss Axio-observer 40 microscope). (E) Heart chamber size measurement in wild type and mutant embryos; the X-axis represents heart chambers (A: atrium; V: ventricle, BA: bulbus arteriosus); Y-axis represents the heart chamber size in mm². (F) Dissected wildtype and mutant (bh^−/−) 9 months old adult heart. (G) Heart tissue section of wild type and mutant (bh^−/−) stained with phalloidin texas red showing enlarged atrium and dilated bulbus arteriosus. (H) Graph representing the heart chamber size in WT and bh^−/− fish corresponding to (F). (I) Heart to body weight ratios for WT and bh^−/− mutant fish indicating enlarged heart of the mutant as compared to WT. (A: atrium; V: ventricle; BA: bulbus arteriosus). (Images were captured at ×2.5) (and **, p < 0.01). The bar indicates the average values ± SD.