2020/09/02 by Emma Rangel‐Huerta, Aida Guzman, Aída Guzmán +1 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Cancer-related Molecular Pathways #Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation #Zebrafish Biomedical Research Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/dvdy.249
openalex publication_date 2020/09/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
BACKGROUND: The epidermis, as a defensive barrier, is a consistent trait throughout animal evolution. During post-larval development, the zebrafish epidermis thickens by stratification or addition of new cell layers. Epidermal basal stem cells, expressing the transcription factor p63, are known to be involved in this process. Zebrafish post-larval epidermal stratification is a tractable system to study how stem cells participate in organ growth. METHODS: We used immunohistochemistry, in combination with EdU cell proliferation detection, to study zebrafish epidermal stratification. For this procedure, we selected a window of post-larval stages (5-8 mm of standard length or SL, which normalizes age by size). Simultaneously, we used markers for asymmetric cell division and the Notch signaling pathway. RESULTS: We found that epidermal stratification is the consequence of several events, including changes in cell shape, active cell proliferation and asymmetrical cell divisions. We identified a subset of highly proliferative epidermal cells with reduced levels of p63, which differed from the basal stem cells with high levels of p63. Additionally, we described different mechanisms that participate in the stratification process, including the phosphorylation of p63, asymmetric cell division regulated by the Par3 and LGN proteins, and expression of Notch genes.