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Mast Cell Development and Function in the Zebrafish

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Mast Cells

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1220))

Abstract

The many advantages of the zebrafish model provide a unique opportunity to integrate the tools of developmental embryology, transgenesis, and functional assays to elucidate the molecular pathways underlying hematopoiesis and for modeling human blood diseases. These methodologies have recently been applied to the zebrafish mast cell lineage and have resulted in a better understanding of vertebrate mast cell biology. By employing whole-mount in situ hybridization alone and in combination with co-localization approaches, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and morpholino gene knockdown studies, new insights into early mast cell transcriptional regulation and ontogeny have been exposed in vivo. Transgenic strategies have permitted the modeling of human mast cell diseases, like systemic mastocytosis in zebrafish, which can subsequently be exploited for high-throughput chemical screens to identify potential therapies in these conditions. Mast cell functional assays have been adapted to zebrafish providing the opportunity to utilize this model for interrogating the cellular players in innate and adaptive immunity and as a live animal readout for drug responses in allergic and inflammatory reactions. These techniques are detailed in the following chapter.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Patricia Colp for assistance with histology and immunohistochemistry methodologies, Mary Ann Trevors for assistance with the electron microscopy protocol, and Chansey Veinotte for editing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IWK Health Centre, Dalhousie University, 9700, 5850/5980 University Avenue, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3K 6R8

    Sahar I Da’as, Tugce B. Balci & Jason N. Berman

  2. Department of Medical Genetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, B3K 6R8

    Tugce B. Balci

Authors
  1. Sahar I Da’as
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  2. Tugce B. Balci
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  3. Jason N. Berman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jason N. Berman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics, The Biomedical Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Michael R. Hughes

  2. Department of Medical Genetics, The Biomedical Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Kelly M. McNagny

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Da’as, S.I., Balci, T.B., Berman, J.N. (2015). Mast Cell Development and Function in the Zebrafish. In: Hughes, M., McNagny, K. (eds) Mast Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1220. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1568-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1568-2_3

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1567-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1568-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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