Citation

Weinstein BM, Stemple DL, Driever W, Fishman MC. 1995. Gridlock, a localized heritable vascular patterning defect in the zebrafish. Nature medicine. 1(11):1143-7. Pubmed: 7584985

Abstract

We are using the zebrafish, Danio rerio, to identify genes that generate and pattern the vertebrate vasculature. We have isolated a recessive mutation, gridlockm145 (grlm145) in which blood flow to the tail is impeded by a localized vascular defect. Using a novel microangiographic method, we show that the blockade is in the anterior trunk, where the paired lateral dorsal aortae normally merge to form the single midline aorta. Arterial-venous shunts and collateral vessels develop in most mutant embryos, bypassing the lesion and reconstituting caudal blood flow. The grl defect resembles coarctation of the aorta, a human congenital cardiovascular malformation of unknown aetiology, in the location of the lesion and its consequences and in the mutants' dependence on collateral vessels for survival.

Related Faculty

Photo of Mark C. Fishman

Mark C. Fishman’s group studies the heart-brain connection. They employ a range of genetic, developmental, and neurobiological tools in zebrafish to understand what the heart tells the brain, and how critical internal sensory systems adjust homeostatic and somatic behaviors, including social interactions.

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