An Investigation into the Genetic Basis of Spinal Cord Regeneration in Larval Zebrafish
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Date
2020
Authors
Kruss, Tova Jillian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Recent studies by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) show that central nervous system injury represent 30% of all injury related deaths in the United States, and that rates of traumatic brain injury-related emergency room visits have risen by nearly 50% over the last six years alone. These statistics serve to showcase human’s extremely poor ability to recover from central nervous system injury or disease and represent the limitations to our current therapeutic techniques for the same. In comparison, zebrafish (Danio rerio) possess vast regenerative ability not only of the central nervous systems but of many of their organs, and are able to recover rapidly and effectively from injuries that would otherwise lead to permanent disability in humans. In the following thesis, the spinal cord of zebrafish was used as a model for studying the genetic basis of central nervous system regeneration. Spinal cord regeneration requires a myriad of different skills from cells including the ability to recognize that an injury has occurred, a shift from normal growth and development to regenerative healing, and the ability to grow in the correct direction to bridge the injury and eventually heal the organ in question. Although some genetic patterning and expression of the developing nervous system has been previously characterized, it is largely unknown if these genetic expression patterns are present utilized during spinal cord regeneration after initial central nervous system (CNS) development. In this thesis we develop an experimental pipeline for evaluating candidate genes necessary for spinal cord regeneration and carried a gene of interest, vimentin (vim), through this pipeline and although upregulation was seen through genetic screening, preliminary immunohistochemistry analysis through suggested that there was not a correlation of vim upregulation with spinal cord regeneration. Although the finding represented a negative result the project generated an exciting list of further candidate genes for further study. Furthermore although vim had been implicated in other forms of zebrafish regeneration, there was an absence of established literature characterizing the gene’s full body expression past three days post fertilization (dpf) and this thesis served to contribute a greater understanding of vim’s expression during development. We anticipate that this project will set the basis for future genetic screens into the genetic basis of spinal cord regeneration and further our understanding of how the cells of the zebrafish spinal cord transition from development to regeneration.
Description
37 pages
Keywords
Biology, Zebrafish, Spinal Cord, Regeneration, Genetics