Alan Davidson
Department of Medicine
Center for Regenerative Medicine
CPZN - 4265A
Massachusetts General Hospital
185 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02114
Office Tel: (617) 724-2661
Lab: (617) 726-2601
Fax: (617)-724-2662
Email: ajdavidson@partners.org
The smallest functional unit of the kidney is the nephron, comprising a filter, tubules, and collecting duct. At present, we have a poor understanding of how these different segments arise from undifferentiated mesoderm. To gain some insight into this process we have collected over 100 genes that are expressed in the developing kidney, including a number of transcription factors that show segment-specific expression patterns. Our analysis of these genes has revealed that the zebrafish embryonic kidney is organized in much the same way as the mammalian nephron. To genetically dissect the pathways that control nephron patterning, we are using a combination of forward genetic screening, morpholino-mediated gene knockdown, and the generation of inducible transgenic lines.
We are also interested in studying renal regeneration in adults. Unlike mammals, zebrafish kidneys display remarkable regenerative abilities and can grow completely new nephrons following injury. We are using a gentamicin-induced model of kidney damage to examine the cellular and molecular processes associated with adult kidney regeneration. By studying induction of new kidney tissue in zebrafish we hope to identify factors that can be used to enhance or induce renal regeneration in humans
References:
- Wingert RA, Davidson AJ. The zebrafish pronephros: a model to study nephron segmentation. Kidney Int. 2008 May;73(10):1120-7.
- Wingert RA, Selleck R, Yu J, Song HD, Chen Z, Song A, Zhou Y, Thisse B, Thisse C, McMahon AP, Davidson AJ. The cdx genes and retinoic acid control the positioning and segmentation of the zebrafish pronephros. PLoS Genet. 2007 Oct;3(10):1922-38
BBS webpage updated 12/02/2009