Y.R. Cha et al., “Chemokine signaling directs trunk lymphatic network formation along the preexisting blood vasculature,” Dev Cell, 22:824-36, 2012.
The lymphatic system, a constellation of vessels, capillaries, and nodes throughout the body, has always been difficult to study. Brant Weinstein, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and colleagues discovered chemokine markers that guide lymphatic vessel growth during development. It’s a “major contribution to our understanding of the development of the lymphatic vasculature,” says Marc Achen of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Australia, who was not involved in the study.
Weinstein’s group used transgenic embryonic zebrafish to track the formation of fluorescently labeled lymphatic vessels. The researchers mounted fish embryos in methyl cellulose, submerged them in flowing water, and imaged them with time-lapse confocal or two-photon microscopy.
The group looked at gene expression patterns for factors that might act as guidance cues. They ...
