Gene Expression in Thyroxin-Induced Metamorphosing Axolotl Hearts
| Autor: | Matthew D. McLean, Aruna Narshi, Bernard J. Poiesz, Dipak K. Dube, Syamalima Dube |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
animal structures
biology Heart development business.industry ved/biology Mutant ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species Embryo General Medicine Bioinformatics biology.organism_classification Embryonic stem cell Tropomyosin Cell biology Axolotl embryonic structures Medicine Ambystoma mexicanum business Model organism |
| Zdroj: | Cardiovascular Pharmacology: Open Access. |
| ISSN: | 2329-6607 |
| DOI: | 10.4172/2329-6607.1000e122 |
| Popis: | The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is a unique model to study vertebrate heart development for several reasons. In addition to the wild-type animal, there is also an embryonic lethal condition caused by a homozygous recessive mutation in cardiac gene “c” [1,2]. These mutant embryonic hearts do not contract, are deficient in tropomyosin, and lack organized myofibrils [3,4], making them an excellent model to study the process of cardiac myofibrillogenesis [5,6]. In contrast to most other model organisms currently being utilized, axolotl embryos are comparatively large (2mm diameter), hence, they can be studied with relative ease. Being amphibians, axolotl embryos mature externally within jelly coats. Therefore, unlike using mammalian embryos, it is unnecessary to sacrifice the parent. Moreover, an average of a hundred axolotl embryos are produced from a single spawning and these embryos develop relatively slowly which is useful for studying vital developmental stages of interest [7]. In fact the timing of developmental stages of interest may be controlled to some extent, as the rate of development for these poikilothermic animal embryos is temperature dependent [8]. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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