OUR RESEARCH
Our recent study has elucidated how the organ-specific vasculature develops in the zebrafish interrenal gland, a teleostean counterpart of the adrenal gland (Chiu et al., 2012). The identified interrenal vessel (IRV) invades the interrenal tissue during the organ assembly; a stage marked by the interaction between steroidogenic and chromaffin cells; and its development demands a microenvironment highly enriched in the extracellular protein Fibronectin. We have also found that the vessel-derived Fibronectin ensures a correct pattern of interrenal–chromaffin cell interactions (Chou et al., 2013). Interestingingly, the blood flow regulates early morphogenetic movements and organ assembly of the interrenal gland through the vascular microenvironment (Chou et al., 2014). We have also dissected how the proangiogenic factor participate in the early kidney formation (Chou et al., 2016).
Angiogenesis of the interrenal tissue (Chiu et al., 2012)
Organogenesis and tissue regeneration
The zebrafish has been established as a genetic model for exploring development and diseases of the kidney, and the zebrafish pronephros is great for the analysis of nephron segmentation and patterning. While the mammalian kidney shows limited capacity of injury-induced repair, the adult zebrafish kidney demonstrates unique stem cell-based regenerative ability. Therefore, understanding how signaling pathways function during the embryonic kidney development may help to unlock the keys to adult kidney regeneration, and so provide novel therapeutic approach to human kidney diseases.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Angiogenesis, vascular microenvironment and organ-vessel interactions
The adrenal gland is one of the most extensively vascularized organs, and a highly-organized vascular system is established during the fetal life. However, how the adrenal vasculature is established, and whether the fetal blood flow contributes to the tissue architecture of adrenal gland, have remained unknown. By using the zebrafish model, we are keen to dissect the profile of proangiogenic factors and endothelial signals/microenvironment that participate in the interrenal angiogenesis and morphogenesis.