Atlas of Cellular Dynamics during Zebrafish Adult Kidney Regeneration

Figure 1

Anatomy of the zebrafish kidney and the identification of histological stains to distinguish renal structures. (a) The adult zebrafish kidney is comprised of arborized arrangements of nephrons that share common distal late tubule segments and drain into major collecting ducts (schematic adapted from [32]). ((b)–(d)) Histological staining in the zebrafish kidney revealed similarities to that of mammalian organ structure. (b) H&E and (c) PAS staining of wild-type zebrafish and mouse kidney tissue emphasized the brush border and elongated cells characteristic of the proximal tubule (PT, yellow label) compared to the pale pink hue of the distal tubule (DT, yellow label). Blood filters or glomeruli (G, yellow label) were as indicated. (d) Silver staining highlighted the brush border in a deep brown hue and additionally stained hyaline droplets located in the PT, while DT structures lacked the brown labeling. Zebrafish tissue sections 60x, mouse tissue sections 40x. ((e)–(i)) Fluorescent labeling of zebrafish tubules and collecting duct, with perimeters of each respective structure outlined in white dots, and nuclei ((e)–(h)) labeled with DAPI. Scale bars, 25 μm. (e) LTL (green) stained the PT, while (f) DBA (red) stained the DT, and these tubule populations are mutually exclusive (h). (g) LTL also stained the collecting ducts, which were distinguished by a myosin VI antibody. (i) In transgenic Tg:enpep:egfp zebrafish, PT structures labeled with ELF-97 to detect alkaline phosphatase were mutually exclusive to DBA-stained distal tubules, and tubules were identified by labeling with anti-eGFP (representative panel reprinted with permission from [32]).