Novel mathematical approach to accurately quantify 3D endothelial cell morphology and vessel geometry based on fluorescently marked endothelial cell contours: Application to the dorsal aorta of wild-type and Endoglin-deficient zebrafish embryos

Endothelial cells, which line the lumen of blood vessels, locally sense and respond to blood flow. In response to altered blood flow dynamics during early embryonic development, these cells undergo shape changes that directly affect vessel geometry: In the dorsal aorta of zebrafish embryos, elongation of endothelial cells in the direction of flow between 48 and 72 hours post fertilization (hpf) reduces the vessel's diameter. This remodeling process requires Endoglin; excessive endothelial cell growth in the protein's absence results in vessel diameter increases. To understand how these changes in vessel geometry emerge from morphological changes of individual endothelial cells, we developed a novel mathematical approach that allows 3D reconstruction and quantification of both dorsal aorta geometry and endothelial cell surface morphology. Based on fluorescently marked endothelial cell contours, we inferred cross-sections of the dorsal aorta that accounted for dorsal flattening of the vessel. By projection of endothelial cell contours onto the estimated cross-sections and subsequent triangulation, we finally reconstructed 3D surfaces of the individual cells. By simultaneously reconstructing vessel cross-sections and cell surfaces, we found in an exploratory analysis that morphology varied between endothelial cells located in different sectors of the dorsal aorta in both wild-type and Endoglin-deficient zebrafish embryos: In wild-types, ventral endothelial cells were smaller and more elongated in flow direction than dorsal endothelial cells at both 48 hpf and 72 hpf. Although dorsal and ventral endothelial cells in Endoglin-deficient embryos had similar sizes at 48 hpf, dorsal endothelial cells were much larger at 72 hpf. In Endoglin-deficient embryos, elongation in flow direction increased between 48 hpf and 72 hpf in ventral endothelial cells but hardly changed in dorsal endothelial cells. Hereby, we provide evidence that dorsal endothelial cells contribute most to the disparate changes in dorsal aorta diameter in wild-type and Endoglin-deficient embryos between 48 hpf and 72 hpf.