Zebrafish glial-vascular interactions progressively expand over the course of brain development

Summary: Glial-vascular interactions are critical for the formation and maintenance of brain blood vessels and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in mammals, but their role in the zebrafish BBB remains unclear. Using three glial gene promoters—gfap, glast, and glastini (a truncated glast)—we explored gli...

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Main Authors: Lewis G. Gall, Courtney M. Stains, Moises Freitas-Andrade, Bill Z. Jia, Nishi Patel, Sean G. Megason, Baptiste Lacoste, Natasha M. O’Brown
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:iScience
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224027767
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Summary:Summary: Glial-vascular interactions are critical for the formation and maintenance of brain blood vessels and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in mammals, but their role in the zebrafish BBB remains unclear. Using three glial gene promoters—gfap, glast, and glastini (a truncated glast)—we explored glial-vascular development in zebrafish. Sparse labeling showed fewer glial-vascular interactions at early stages, with glial coverage and contact area increasing with age. Stable transgenic lines for glast and glastini revealed similar developmental increases, starting at ∼30% coverage at 3 days post-fertilization (dpf) and peaking at ∼60% by 10 dpf, and consistently higher glial coverage in the forebrain and midbrain than in the hindbrain. Electron microscopy analyses showed similar progressive increases in glial-vascular interactions, with maximal coverage of ∼70% in adults—significantly lower than the ∼100% seen in mammals. These findings define the temporal and regional maturation of glial-vascular interactions in zebrafish and highlight differences from mammalian systems.
ISSN:2589-0042