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13 May 2015

No Through Road

Just as a growing city builds new and bigger roads and eliminates some under-used streets, so a growing body builds and re-routes its blood vessels. The video shows the elimination of a small vessel connecting two larger ones in a zebrafish embryo. This process, called pruning, has rarely been observed, but thanks to advances in microscopy and the zebrafish embryo’s practically transparent body, scientists have now been able to capture the process at high-resolution in real-time. Pruning starts with the migration of cells within the doomed back-alley towards the larger thoroughfares at each end until one long, thin cell remains stretching across the divide. Finally, the connection is broken as the last cell incorporates into one of the larger vessels. By understanding how the body naturally shuts down such unwanted routes, researchers may be able to therapeutically mimic the process to prevent blood supply to tumours.

Written by Ruth Williams

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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