-A New Affector of Zebrafish Angiogenesis and Heart Regeneration?

The eukaryotic initiation factor 4E binding protein (4E-BP) family is involved in translational control of cell proliferation and pro-angiogenic factors. The zebrafish eukaryotic initiation factor 4E binding protein 3 like () is a member of the 4E-BPs and responsible for activity-dependent myofibrillogenesis, but whether it affects cardiomyocyte (CM) proliferation or heart regeneration is unclear. We examined during zebrafish vascular development and heart regeneration post cryoinjury in adult zebrafish. Using morpholino injections we induced silencing of in zebrafish embryos, which led to increased angiogenesis at 94 h post fertilization (hpf). For investigation of in cardiac regeneration, zebrafish hearts were subjected to cryoinjury. Regenerating hearts were analyzed at different time points post-cryoinjury for expression of by in situ hybridization and showed strongly decreased expression in the injured area. We established a transgenic zebrafish strain, which overexpressed under the control of a heat-shock dependent promotor. Overexpression of during zebrafish heart regeneration caused only macroscopically a reduced amount of fibrin at the site of injury. Overall, these findings demonstrate that silencing of has pro-angiogenic properties in zebrafish vascular development and when is overexpressed, fibrin deposition tends to be altered in zebrafish cardiac regeneration after cryoinjury.