PUBLICATION

Ethanol exposure during gastrulation alters neuronal morphology and behavior in zebrafish

Authors
Shan, S.D., Boutin, S., Ferdous, J., Ali, D.W.
ID
ZDB-PUB-150121-12
Date
2015
Source
Neurotoxicology and teratology   48: 18-27 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
CNS, FASD, Mauthner cell, ethanol, fetal alcohol syndrome
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal/drug effects*
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects*
  • Escape Reaction/drug effects
  • Ethanol/toxicity*
  • Female
  • Gastrulation/drug effects*
  • Male
  • Motor Neurons/drug effects
  • Neurons/drug effects*
  • Neurons/pathology
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
PubMed
25599605 Full text @ Neurotoxicol. Teratol.
Abstract
Ethanol (EtOH) exposure during development has been shown to lead to deficits in fine and gross motor control. In this study we used zebrafish embryos to determine the effects of EtOH treatment during gastrulation. We treated embryos in the gastrulation stage (5.25hours post fertilization (hpf) to 10.75 hpf) with 10mM, 50mM or 100mM EtOH and examined the effects on general animal morphology, the c-start reflex behavior, Mauthner cell (M-cell) morphology and motor neuron morphology. EtOH treated fish exhibited a minor but significant increase in gross morphological deformities compared with untreated fish. Behavioral studies showed that EtOH treatment resulted in an increase in the peak speed of the tail during the escape response. Furthermore, there was a marked increase in abnormally directed c-starts, with treated fish showing greater incidences of c-starts in inappropriate directions. Immunolabelling of the M-cells, which are born during gastrulation, revealed that they were significantly smaller in fish treated with 100mM EtOH compared with controls. Immunolabelling of primary motor neurons using anti-znp1, showed no significant effect on axonal branching, whereas secondary motor axons had a greater number of branches in ethanol treated fish compared with controls. Together these findings indicate that ethanol exposure during gastrulation can lead to alterations in behavior, neuronal morphology and possibly function.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping