Research Ideas on Zebrafish Angiogenesis

Angiogenesis

• The process of angiogenesis is not fully understood. It involves growing new blood vessels that extend from existing vessels in response to protein stimuli released from cells. Vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGT, is released during embryo development and is one of the stimulating factors. Researchers gain a better understanding of angiogenesis by altering VEGT levels in zebrafish during early embryo development. One study observed stunted growth of zebrafish head and tail regions in response to VEGT inhibition.
  
  

Zebrafish in Research

• Zebrafish are relatively small and easy to maintain in a laboratory environment. They also reproduce quickly and lay up to 200 eggs every three months. It is also possible to observe effects of VEGT and other blood vessel stimulating factors in a short period of time. Zebrafish develop internal organs within 96 hours after egg fertilization equivalent to three months in humans. The transparency of zebrafish embryos allows researchers to view blood vessel as they grow. There are also many genes consistent in zebrafish and humans that could be compared.
  
  

Angiogenesis and Cancer

• Cancer is caused by a condition where living cells divide and multiply at an uncontrolled rate. Like normal cells, cancer cells require nutrients and oxygen supplied by the blood. To maintain survival, cancer cells release VEGT and other stimulating factors that induce angiogenesis. As during normal tissue development, blood vessels grow throughout cancerous tissue. Zebrafish allow researchers a means to test all stimulating factors involved during angiogenesis to help understand factors controlling cancer growth and development.
  
  

Zebrafish and Cancer Research

• Zebrafish provide an important model for the study of cancer and potential treatments. Understanding angiogenesis is one step to a possible cure. Treatments that inhibit blood vessel development could slow cancer cell growth by starving these cells of oxygen and food. Angiostatin and endostatin are two known factors that inhibit angiogenesis and provide possible treatments. Localized injections of angiostatin and endostatin into zebrafish could provide a means for slowing cancer growth without damaging normal cells. Zebrafish provide researchers with a means to investigate cancer and other diseases related to stimulated growth of blood vessels.