PUBLICATION

The axillary lymphoid organ is an external, experimentally accessible immune organ in the zebrafish

Authors
Castranova, D., Kenton, M.I., Kraus, A., Dell, C.W., Park, J.S., Venero Galanternik, M., Park, G., Lumbantobing, D.N., Dye, L., Marvel, M., Iben, J., Taimatsu, K., Pham, V., Willms, R.J., Blevens, L., Robertson, T.F., Hou, Y., Huttenlocher, A., Foley, E., Parenti, L.R., Frazer, J.K., Narayan, K., Weinstein, B.M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-250402-4
Date
2025
Source
The Journal of experimental medicine   222: (Journal)
Registered Authors
Castranova, Dan, Foley, Edan, Huttenlocher, Anna, Kenton, Madeleine, Kraus, Aurora, Marvel, Miranda, Pham, Van, Taimatsu, Kiyohito, Weinstein, Brant M.
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Lymph Nodes/immunology
  • Zebrafish*/immunology
  • Axilla
  • Lymphoid Tissue*/immunology
  • Lymphatic Vessels*/immunology
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
PubMed
40167600 Full text @ J. Exp. Med.
Abstract
Lymph nodes and other secondary lymphoid organs play critical roles in immune surveillance and immune activation in mammals, but the deep internal locations of these organs make it challenging to image and study them in living animals. Here, we describe a previously uncharacterized external immune organ in the zebrafish ideally suited for studying immune cell dynamics in vivo, the axillary lymphoid organ (ALO). This small, translucent organ has an outer cortex teeming with immune cells, an inner medulla with a mesh-like network of fibroblastic reticular cells along which immune cells migrate, and a network of lymphatic vessels draining to a large adjacent lymph sac. Noninvasive high-resolution imaging of transgenically marked immune cells can be carried out in ALOs of living animals, which are readily accessible to external treatment. This newly discovered tissue provides a superb model for dynamic live imaging of immune cells and their interaction with pathogens and surrounding tissues, including blood and lymphatic vessels.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping