Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease Review The Lymphatic System in Zebrafish Heart Development, Regeneration and Disease Modeling Xidi Feng 1,†, Stanislao Travisano 1,† , Caroline A. Pearson 2, Ching-Ling Lien 1,3,4,* and Michael R. M. Harrison 5,6,* 1 The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA;
[email protected] (X.F.);
[email protected] (S.T.) 2 Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Development, Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, USA;
[email protected] 3 Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA 4 Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA 5 Cardiovascular Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, USA 6 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] (C.-L.L.);
[email protected] (M.R.M.H.) † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Heart disease remains the single largest cause of death in developed countries, and novel therapeutic interventions are desperately needed to alleviate this growing burden. The cardiac lymphatic system is the long-overlooked counterpart of the coronary blood vasculature, but its important roles in homeostasis and disease are becoming increasingly apparent. Recently, the car- diac lymphatic vasculature in zebrafish has been described and its role in supporting the potent regenerative response of zebrafish heart tissue investigated. In this review, we discuss these findings in the wider context of lymphatic development, evolution and the promise of this system to open Citation: Feng, X.; Travisano, S.; new therapeutic avenues to treat myocardial infarction and other cardiopathologies.