Publication Date:
2001-05-19
Description:
Zebrafish are a valuable model for mammalian lipid metabolism; larvae process lipids similarly through the intestine and hepatobiliary system and respond to drugs that block cholesterol synthesis in humans. After ingestion of fluorescently quenched phospholipids, endogenous lipase activity and rapid transport of cleavage products results in intense gall bladder fluorescence. Genetic screening identifies zebrafish mutants, such as fat free, that show normal digestive organ morphology but severely reduced phospholipid and cholesterol processing. Thus, fluorescent lipids provide a sensitive readout of lipid metabolism and are a powerful tool for identifying genes that mediate vertebrate digestive physiology.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farber, S A -- Pack, M -- Ho, S Y -- Johnson, I D -- Wagner, D S -- Dosch, R -- Mullins, M C -- Hendrickson, H S -- Hendrickson, E K -- Halpern, M E -- DK 54942/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 May 18;292(5520):1385-8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA. sfarber@lac.jci.tju.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11359013" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Anticholesteremic Agents/pharmacology
;
Atorvastatin Calcium
;
Bile Acids and Salts/pharmacology
;
Boron Compounds/metabolism
;
Cholesterol/metabolism
;
Digestive System/drug effects/*metabolism/pathology
;
*Digestive System Physiological Phenomena/drug effects
;
Fluorescent Dyes/*metabolism
;
Gallbladder/drug effects/metabolism
;
Heptanoic Acids/pharmacology
;
Larva/drug effects/metabolism
;
Lipase/metabolism
;
Mice
;
Microscopy, Fluorescence
;
Microscopy, Video
;
Mutation/genetics
;
Phospholipids/*metabolism
;
Pyrroles/pharmacology
;
Signal Transduction/drug effects
;
Zebrafish/embryology/genetics/*metabolism/physiology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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