Connexin43基因表达下调导致斑马鱼胚胎后部体节发育异常

目的：验证斑马鱼胚胎体节的发育是否受到间隙连接蛋白connexin43（cx43）基因表达调控。方法：利用吗啉修饰的反义寡核苷酸（morpholino antisense oligos）下调cx43基因的表达;单克隆抗体CH1进行全胚胎的免疫荧光来标记体节;全胚胎的TUNEL实验检测细胞凋亡。结果：研究发现cx43基因表达下调的斑马鱼胚胎呈现为尾部向侧下弯曲,并且后部体节排列紊乱。进一步的研究证实cx43下调诱导了后部体节细胞的异常凋亡。结论：cx43与斑马鱼后部体节的正常发育有关。

Blocking connexin43 expression caused abnormal zebrafish posterior somites development

Objective：To examine if somites development in zebrafish embryo is regulated by gap junction channel connex-in43（cx43）.Methods：By using morpholino antisense oligos to knockdown the expression of cx43.Whole amount immunofluo-rescence with CH1 antibody to label the somites in zebrafish embryo.Whole mount TUNEL（terminal deoxynucleotide trans-ferasemediated dUTP nick-end labeling） staining to detect cell apoptosis.Results：In present study,it was found that cx43 knock-down embryos displayed a down-sideward tail curvature and had disorganized posterior somites.Furthermore,it was demonstrated that cx43 inhibition resulted in induction of apoptosis in the posterior somites.Conclusion：This current study suggested that cx43 was involved in zebrafish posterior somites normal development.