Abstract
Blood vessels and nerve tissues are critical to the development and functionality of many vital organs. However, little is currently known about their interdependency during development and after injury. In this study, dual fluorescence transgenic reporter mice were utilized to observe blood vessels and nervous tissues in organs postnatally. Thy1-YFP and Flt1-DsRed (TYFD) mice were interbred to achieve dual fluorescence in the offspring, with Thy1-YFP yellow fluorescence expressed primarily in nerves, and Flt1-DsRed fluorescence expressed selectively in blood vessels. Using this dual fluorescent mouse strain, we were able to visualize the networks of nervous and vascular tissue simultaneously in various organ systems both in the physiological state and after injury. Using ex vivo high-resolution imaging in this dual fluorescent strain, we characterized the organizational patterns of both nervous and vascular systems in a diverse set of organs and tissues. In the cornea, we also observed the dynamic patterns of nerve and blood vessel networks following epithelial debridement injury. These findings highlight the versatility of this dual fluorescent strain for characterizing the relationship between nerve and blood vessel growth and organization.