Figure 5

prox1 loss of function affects development of functional hair cells in zebrafish lateral line neuromasts. Comparison of GFP expression between morphant and control embryos at 60 hpf shows no differences in mantle cells (A, B), progenitor cells (C, D) and hair cells (E, F) in different transgenic backgrounds, indicating that there is no effect of the prox1 morpholino in the specification of these cell types in the neuromast. (G, H) However, the vital stain Diasp indicates that almost 50% of the hair cells present in a neuromast are not functionally active. (I) Comparison of the percentage of GFP labeled hair cells that are co-labeled with Diasp in control and prox1 MO injected embryos. Scale bar = 10 micron.