Fig. 4: Gut-specific tert expression rescues systemic tissue degeneration.
From: Gut-specific telomerase expression counteracts systemic aging in telomerase-deficient zebrafish
Expression of telomerase in the gut of tert mutant fish rescued tissue degeneration in the testes, visceral adipose tissue, muscle and eye. a, Representative image of a longitudinal section of a zebrafish stained with H&E. The locations of each tissue analyzed in the study are indicated by arrows. b, Representative images of testes, kidney, visceral adipose tissue, subcutaneous adipose tissue, muscle and eye from 9-month-old fish stained with H&E (right). Except for the kidney, histological quantifications were performed for each tissue (left), namely the mature spermatids area (nWT = 10 fish, \(n_{tert^{-/-}\, {\mathrm{no}}\, {\mathrm{Cre}}}\) = 8 fish and \(n_{tert^{-/-}\, +\, {\mathrm{Cre}}}\) = 9 fish), adipocyte area (nWT = 9 fish, \(n_{tert^{-/-}\, {\mathrm{no}}\, {\mathrm{Cre}}}\) = 9 fish and \(n_{tert^{-/-}\, +\, {\mathrm{Cre}}}\) = 9 fish), muscle fiber thickness (n = 8 fish per group), retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor layer (PRL) (nWT = 7 fish, \(n_{tert^{-/-}\, {\mathrm{no}}\, {\mathrm{Cre}}}\) = 8 fish and \(n_{tert^{-/-}\, +\, {\mathrm{Cre}}}\) = 8 fish), respectively. Scale bar, 20 µm. All data are presented as the mean ± s.e.m.; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, using a one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey test; *P < 0.05, using a Kruskal–Wallis test and post hoc Dunn test.
