Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0554, USA.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 1994 Sep-Oct;4(5):207-12. doi: 10.1016/1050-1738(94)90036-1.
The zebrafish, Brachydanio rerio, is rapidly becoming a system of choice for vertebrate developmental biologists. It presents unique embryological attributes and is amenable to saturation style mutagenesis, a powerful approach that, in invertebrates, has already led to the identification of a large number of key developmental genes. Since fertilization is external, the zebrafish embryo develops in the dish and is thus accessible for continued observation and manipulation at all stages of development. Furthermore, because the embryo is transparent, the developing heart and vessels can be resolved at the single-cell level. A large number of mutations that affect the development of cardiovascular form and function have recently been isolated from large-scale genetic screens for zygotic embryonic lethals. Our further understanding of the development of the cardiovascular system is important not only because of the high incidence, and familial inheritance, of congenital abnormalities, but also because it should lead to novel, differentiation-based strategies for the analysis and therapy of the diseased state.
斑马鱼，Brachydanio rerio，正在迅速成为脊椎动物发育生物学家的首选系统。它具有独特的胚胎学特征，并且易于饱和诱变，这是一种强大的方法，在无脊椎动物中，已经导致了大量关键发育基因的鉴定。由于受精是在外部进行的，所以斑马鱼胚胎在培养皿中发育，因此在发育的各个阶段都可以继续观察和操作。此外，由于胚胎是透明的，因此可以在单细胞水平上解析正在发育的心脏和血管。最近，从大规模的合子胚胎致死性遗传筛选中分离出了大量影响心血管形态和功能发育的突变。我们对心血管系统发育的进一步了解不仅因为先天性异常的高发病率和家族遗传，而且还因为它应该为疾病状态的分析和治疗提供基于分化的新策略。
