Fig 4

Fig 4 cxcl12b is regulated by nkx3.1; loss of Cxcr4 signaling reduces brain pericytes.

All embryos were imaged dorsally in the head region. cxcl12b mRNA expression is reduced in the embryonic head of nkx3.1^−/− mutants (B) as compared to wild-type controls (A) at 30 hpf as quantified by fluorescent intensity (C) of regions marked by dotted lines in A and B. (n = 10 wild-type and 10 mutant embryos). Inhibition of Cxcr4 from 24–75 hpf using AMD 3100 leads to reduced brain pericytes in treated (E) vs. untreated (D) embryos (at 75 hpf (n = 10)). Pericytes (red cells, white arrows) are labeled by TgBAC(pdgfrβ:Gal4); Tg(UAS:NTR-mCherry). Brain vessels in D and E are labeled by Tg(flk:GFP; green). Quantification of (F) pericyte number and (G) pericyte density. (n = 10 wild type and 10 mutants). Statistical significance was calculated using the Student t test. Scale bar is 50 μm. The data underlying this figure can be found in S3 Table.