Vascular Regeneration in a Basal Chordate Is Due to the Presence of Immobile, Bi-Functional Cells
Figure 6
Resident vascular cells differentially express progenitor and differentiated markers during regenerating.
(A) In situ hybridization of CD133 showing expression in developing ampullae and a small subset up blood cells (arrows). (B) In situ hybridization showing VEGFR-2 expression in both ampullae (a) and marginal vessels (mv). (C) Immunohistochemistry of Cadherin showing expression in developing ampullae (a), marginal vessels (mv), and blood cells (arrows). (D) FITC-Dextran fluorescence vs. Side Scatter FACS analysis showing the auto-fluorescence of unlabeled control animals of a Botryllus schlosseri whole cell isolation following mechanical cell dissociation (n = 12). (E) FITC-Dextran fluorescence vs. Side Scatter FACS analysis of FITC-Dextran vascular labeled animals (n = 12). (F) QRT-PCR analysis of FACS isolated FITC-dextran labeled vascular cells showing 11.0 (+/− s.e.m. = 0.26) fold up regulation of CD133, 2.2 (+/− s.e.m. = 0.35) up regulation of VEGFR-2 and 0.74 (+/− s.e.m. = 0.88) regulation of Cadherin in AMPX animals (n = 12) compared to stage matched controls (n = 12). * = p<0.01, ** = p<0.001. Scale bars: A = 50 µm, B = 70 µm, C = 50 µm.