Expression of central inflammatory cytokines is dysregulated in mecp2-null larvae. (A,B,C) qPCR was performed to determine the whole-organism expression of tnfa from 4 hpf to 7 dpf (A), and il1b and il10 from 1 dpf to 7 dpf (B,C), in wild-type or mecp2-null zebrafish. Gene expression is related to the expression of the housekeeping gene tbp, where the fold change relative to gene expression in 1 dpf wild-type embryos is shown (n=3 with 20 embryos or larvae pooled per sample for 1-7 dpf; 30 embryos were pooled per sample for the 4-12 hpf time points; data are representative of two individual experiments). One-way ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc test was used for all statistical analyses (***P<0.001; **P<0.01; *P<0.05; ns, not significant). (D-K) Representative confocal micrographs of 3 dpf Tg(tnfa:eGFP) wild-type and mecp2-null larvae showing the eGFP expression pattern in brain regions in a lateral view (D,H), brain regions in a dorsal view (E,I), posterior gut epithelium in a lateral view (F,J) and dorsal root ganglion neurons in a lateral view (G,K).