ABSTRACT
Pdx-1, an important transcription factor highlighting in the early pancreatic development,islet functions and pancreatic disorders, needs to be more investigated in zebrafish, and siRNA is still seldom applied in zebrafish embryo-related research.Our aim was to explore the role of pdx-1 in pan-creatic development of zebrafish embryos by using siRNA approach. Microinjection, reverse tran-scriptase-PCR (RT-PCR), in situ hybridization and immunofluorescent staining were used in this re-search, and the morphology of the islet in normal zebrafish embryos, and in those treated with the siRNA specific to pdx-1 (siPDX-1) or siGFP was observed and compared. The expression of pdx-1 was detected in the stages of 1-cell, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, 16-cell, 16-hour by RT-PCT. The in situ hy-bridization and immunofluorescent staining results showed that siPDX-I disturbed the formation of the islet in zebrafish embryos. Pdx-1 played multiple roles in maintaining the phenotype of the islet during embryogenesis in zebrafish.