Childs, SarahSpice, Peter James2015-01-082015-02-232015-01-082014http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1994Vascular stabilization is the process during vascular development where the immature endothelial cell tube gains structural support through the recruitment and adhesion of perivascular mural cells; pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMC). When vessels are not well supported by mural cells hemorrhage can occur. Nkx3.2 deficient zebrafish embryos hemorrhage, have reduced expression of a mural cell marker, and the endothelial layer makes less contact with mural cells compared with controls. I found that nkx3.2 regulates the expression of two genes with known roles in neural crest migration and specification; pdgfrα and sox10. Further, nkx3.2 functions autonomously in neural crest cells, where knockdown of nkx3.2 causes abnormal migration of neural crest cells in the head. These results show that nkx3.2 regulates genes involved in neural crest migration and in turn supports recruitment of mural cells to mediate vascular stabilization.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Biology--Cellzebrafishmural cellendothelial cellVascular developmentstabilizationmaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/27107