Exogenous retinoic acid causes specific alterations in the development of the midbrain and hindbrain of the zebrafish embryo including positional respecification of the Mauthner neuron

https://doi.org/10.1016/0925-4773(94)00321-DGet rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Exogenously applied retinoic acid given at the early stages of gastrulation causes abnormal development of the caudal midbrain and anterior hindbrain in vertebrate embryos. We describe the limits of the brain regions that are affected using neuroanatomical criteria in the zebrafish embryo. Analysis of the reticulospinal complex shows that the Mauthner cell, which normally differentiates in rhombomere 4, is duplicated either in this rhombomere or in rhombomere 2. Using probes for zebrafish krx20 and pax2, it is demonstrated that retinoic acid affects the expression domains of these regulatory genes in a manner that is consistent with the neuroanatomical data. Expression of the goosecoid gene, which expressed in the prospective anterior mesoderm from the onset of gastrulation, is unaffected by the doses of retinoic acid used in this study, reflecting the normal development of the anterior end of the embryo.

Keywords

Retinoic acid
Mauthner cell
Rhombomeres

Cited by (0)

2

Current address: Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, East Sands, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB.

1

Current address: Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Windeyer Building, University College London, Cleveland Street, London WIP 6DB, UK.