Inhibition of TGF-beta signalling during zebrafish larval tail regeneration.

This study investigates the role of TGF-beta signalling during tail regeneration in 72-96 hour old zebrafish. The inhibitor SB431542 was used to inhibit TGF-beta signalling with and without larval tail excision. Control larvae were treated with DMSO. The study identifies candidate differentially expressed genes (DEGs) after injury; TGF-beta-dependent, injury regulated DEGs; TGF-beta-dependent DEGs in the absence of injury; and TGF-beta-independent injury-dependent DEGs. Larvae were maintained at 28.5C in E3 buffer. Larval tails were excised at the pigment gap (approximately 200um from the end of the tail) at 72 hours post fertilisation (hpf). 18 hours later another 200um of tissue was removed for RNA analysis. For unoperated samples, the same region of tissue was removed at 90hpf. SB431542 treatments were at 50uM and were from 72-90hpf. DMSO was used at 0.1%.