Eye of the Abyss
This image looks as if it could be the cover of a science fiction novel. It shows blood and lymphatic vessels in and around the eye of a zebrafish. Understanding how these systems develop in zebrafish can help researchers better understand and treat eye diseases in humans.
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DownloadEye of the Abyss
This image looks as if it could be the cover of a science fiction novel. It shows blood and lymphatic vessels in and around the eye of a zebrafish. Understanding how these systems develop in zebrafish can help researchers better understand and treat eye diseases in humans.
What am I looking at?
This is an image of a fluorescently labeled eye and surrounding tissue from a zebrafish. The blood vessels are purple (1), the lymphatic vessels are green (2), and the nuclei of all the cells are blue (3).
Biology in the background
While it may not seem as if human eyes and zebrafish eyes have that much in common, their basic structures are surprisingly similar. Both have blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the eye, as well as lymphatic vessels that drain fluid and carry immune cells to areas in and around the eye. Studying zebrafish can provide important insights into how these systems develop and function, which could suggest new approaches to treatments for diseases that affect our eyes.
The eye of an adult zebrafish is about 2.3 millimeters in diameter, or roughly nine times smaller than a human thumbnail.
Technique
This image was created using confocal microscopy.
Daniel Castranova and Brant Weinstein, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development