Xenopus laevis type XVIII collagen occurs in three variants, 22 + 1285 amino acid residues (signal peptide + mature protein), 23 + 1581 residues and 23 + 1886 residues in length, differing in their N-terminal non-collagenous domains. The region showing highest homology to mammalian counterparts is the C-terminal endostatin domain. All three variants are expressed, at different levels, during ea...

Senescence represents a mechanism to avoid undesired cell proliferation that plays a role in tumor suppression, wound healing and embryonic development. In order to gain insight on the evolution of senescence, we looked at its presence in developing axolotls (urodele amphibians) and in zebrafish (teleost fish), which are both anamniotes. Our data indicate that cellular senescence is present in ...

Kidney formation involves patterning events that induce renal progenitors to form nephrons with an intricate composition of multiple segments. Here, we performed a chemical genetic screen using zebrafish and discovered that prostaglandins, lipid mediators involved in many physiological functions, influenced pronephros segmentation. Modulating levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) or PGB2 restricted...

BACKGROUND The formation of the vertebrate kidney is tightly regulated and relies on multiple evolutionarily conserved inductive events. These are present in the complex metanephric kidney of higher vertebrates, but also in the more primitive pronephric kidney functional in the larval stages of amphibians and fish. Wnts have long been viewed as central in this process. Canonical β-Catenin-depen...

We used Pax-2 mRNA expression and Lim 1/2 antibody staining as markers for the conversion of chick intermediate mesoderm (IM) to pronephric tissue and Lmx-1 mRNA expression as a marker for mesonephros. Pronephric markers were strongly expressed caudal to the fifth somite by stage 9. To determine whether the pronephros was induced by adjacent tissues and, if so, to identify the inducing tissues ...

—A technique that uses hypotonic lysis of erythrocytes was optimized for the purification of leukocytes from the peripheral blood and anterior kidney (pronephros) of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Comparisons of initial blood dilution (1:2, 1:4, and 1:6) and the time of exposure to hypotonic conditions (10, 20, and 40 s) revealed that a dilution of 1:2 provided the most complete hemolysis a...

The analysis of kidney malformation caused by environmental influences during nephrogenesis or by hereditary nephropathies requires animal models allowing the in vivo observation of developmental processes. The zebrafish has emerged as a useful model system for the analysis of vertebrate organ development and function, and it is suitable for the identification of organotoxic or disease-modulati...