Author: ["Annelii Ny","Marta Koch","Martin Schneider","Elke Neven","Ricky T Tong","Sunit Maity","Christian Fischer","Stephane Plaisance","Diether Lambrechts","Christophe Héligon","Sven Terclavers","Malgorzata Ciesiolka","Roland Kälin","Wing Yan Man","Irena Senn","Sabine Wyns","Florea Lupu","André Brändli","Kris Vleminckx","Désiré Collen","Mieke Dewerchin","Edward M Conway","Lieve Moons","Rakesh K Jain","Peter Carmeliet"]
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Abstract
Lymph vessels control fluid homeostasis, immunity and metastasis. Unraveling the molecular basis of lymphangiogenesis has been hampered by the lack of a small animal model that can be genetically manipulated. Here, we show that Xenopus tadpoles develop lymph vessels from lymphangioblasts or, through transdifferentiation, from venous endothelial cells. Lymphangiography showed that these lymph vessels drain lymph, through the lymph heart, to the venous circulation. Morpholino-mediated knockdown of the lymphangiogenic factor Prox1 caused lymph vessel defects and lymphedema by impairing lymphatic commitment. Knockdown of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) also induced lymph vessel defects and lymphedema, but primarily by affecting migration of lymphatic endothelial cells. Knockdown of VEGF-C also resulted in aberrant blood vessel formation in tadpoles. This tadpole model offers opportunities for the discovery of new regulators of lymphangiogenesis.Cite this article
Ny, A., Koch, M., Schneider, M. et al. A genetic Xenopus laevis tadpole model to study lymphangiogenesis. Nat Med 11, 998–1004 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1285 