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Updated: Jan 19, 2026
Induction and Micro-CT Imaging of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations in Mouse Model
Published on: September 4, 2017
Blood Flow Suppresses Vascular Anomalies in a Zebrafish Model of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations
Claudia Jasmin Rödel1, Cécile Otten1, Stefan Donat1,2
1From the Department for Animal Physiology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Potsdam University, Germany (C.J.R., C.O., S.D., M.L., D.F., A.P., S.A.-S.).
Rationale:
Pathological biomechanical signaling induces vascular anomalies including cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM), which are caused by a clonal loss of CCM1/KRIT1 (Krev interaction trapped protein 1), CCM2/MGC4607, or CCM3/PDCD10. Why patients typically experience lesions only in lowly perfused venous capillaries of the cerebrovasculature is completely unknown.
Objective:
In contrast, animal models with a complete loss of CCM proteins lack a functional heart and blood flow and exhibit vascular anomalies within major blood vessels as well. This finding raises the possibility that hemodynamics may play a role in the context of this vascular pathology.
Methods And Results:
Here, we used a genetic approach to restore cardiac function and blood flow in a zebrafish model of CCM1. We find that blood flow prevents cardiovascular anomalies including a hyperplastic expansion within a large Ccm1-deficient vascular bed, the lateral dorsal aorta.
Conclusions:
This study identifies blood flow as an important physiological factor that is protective in the cause of this devastating vascular pathology.
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