Temporal and clonal characterization of neural stem cell niche recruitment in the medaka neuromast.

Stem cell populations are defined by their capacity to self-renew and to generate differentiated progeny. These unique characteristics largely depend on the stem cell micro-environment, the so-called stem cell niche. Niches were identified for most adult stem cells studied so far, but we know surprisingly little about how somatic stem cells and their niche come together during organ formation.

Establishment of cell lines from individual zebrafish embryos.

With the increasing use of fish as model species for research, cell cultures derived from caudal fin explants as well as pre-hatching stage embryos have provided powerful tools that can complement or serve as an ethically more acceptable alternative to live animal experiments. The widely-used protocols to establish these lines require, as a starting point, homogeneous pools of embryos or viable adult fish which are large enough for collecting sufficient fin tissue. This excludes the use of fish lines with adverse phenotypes or lines that exhibit mortality at early developmental stages and so can only be propagated as heterozygotes.