Drosophila melanogaster has a tubular heart called the dorsal vessel, which is
composed of contractile cardiomyocytes and hemolymph filtering pericardial cells.
During larval development the dorsal vessel (heart) grows in size, and the luminal
space inside the heart expands, however it has not been clear which cells are
responsible for laying the extracellular matrix (ECM) during this expansion.
Hemocytes (white blood cells), pericardial cells and cells of the fat body are candidate
cell types that may secrete ECM for assembly during the growth of the heart lumen.
With gene knock-down techniques we are exploring whether hemocytes participate in
assembly of the heart ECM at this location. Additionally, studies of fluorescently
tagged hemocytes in intact larvae reveal that hemocytes aggregate around pericardial
cells of the dorsal vessel in 3rd instars. Confocal studies of dissected larval hearts
indicate that hemocytes aggregate within infoldings of basement membrane associated
with pericardial cells. Hemocyte-pericardial cell association could indicate that
hemocytes take up proteins that are produced by pericardial cells and deliver them to
other locations or that there might be a previously unidentified hematopoietic site at
the Drosophila larval heart. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/19217 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Cevik, Duygu |
| Contributors | Jacobs, Roger, Biology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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