FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2

Morphological defects and hair cells loss in Mfsd3-deficient zebrafish. (A–C) Compared with control MO, the mfsd3 knockdown MO showing significant body shortening (B,C), axis curvature (B,C) and pericardial edema ((B,C), red arrowheads). (D–L) Live imaging of Brn3c: mGFP transgenic embryo at 3-dpf showed GFP expression from RGCs (retinal ganglion cells) and neuromasts (green dots) of the posterior lateral line and head. Zebrafish under control exhibited normal hair cells number (D). Conversely, significantly decreased hair cells of the posterior lateral line were observed in mfsd3 morphants (E,F). The white boxed regions are presented in amplified form in the lower panels (G–L) GFP fluorescence signal alone (G–I) and GFP fluorescence signal merged with bright field image (J–L). Morphometric analyses were utilized to quantify the fluorescence particle signal of hair cells. (M) A time-course plot of survival rates in control vs. mfsd3 morphants for 3 days. (N) The percentage of embryos with development defects in control vs. mfsd3 morphants. (O,P) Quantitative analysis of body length (O) and curvature angle (P) of embryos. (n = 10; ANOVA; ***P < 0.001). (Q) Quantitative analysis of the pericardial area of embryos. (R) Quantitative analysis of the average number of hair cells at posterior lateral line. Scale bar, 100 μm; Scatter plot with bars (n = 10; ANOVA; **P < 0.0001). dpf, days post fertilization.