A Surgery Protocol for Adult Zebrafish Spinal Cord Injury

Ping Fang; Jin-Fei Lin; Hong-Chao Pan; Yan-Qin Shen; Melitta Schachner

doi:10.1016/j.jgg.2012.07.010

Volume 39 Issue 9

Sep. 2012

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Article Navigation > Journal of Genetics and Genomics > 2012 > 39(9): 481-487

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A Surgery Protocol for Adult Zebrafish Spinal Cord Injury

doi: 10.1016/j.jgg.2012.07.010

Center for Neuroscience, Shantou University Medical College, 22 Xinling Road, Shantou 515041, China

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Corresponding author: E-mail address: shenyq30@hotmail.com (Yan-Qin Shen); E-mail address: schachner@stu.edu.cn (Melitta Schachner)
Received Date: 2012-04-30
Accepted Date: 2012-07-16
Rev Recd Date: 2012-07-13

Available Online: 2012-08-24

Publish Date: 2012-09-20

Abstract

Abstract

Adult zebrafish has a remarkable capability to recover from spinal cord injury, providing an excellent model for studying neuroregeneration. Here we list equipment and reagents, and give a detailed protocol for complete transection of the adult zebrafish spinal cord. In this protocol, potential problems and their solutions are described so that the zebrafish spinal cord injury model can be more easily and reproducibly performed. In addition, two assessments are introduced to monitor the success of the surgery and functional recovery: one test to assess free swimming capability and the other test to assess extent of neuroregeneration by in vivo anterograde axonal tracing. In the swimming behavior test, successful complete spinal cord transection is monitored by the inability of zebrafish to swim freely for 1 week after spinal cord injury, followed by the gradual reacquisition of full locomotor ability within 6 weeks after injury. As a morphometric correlate, anterograde axonal tracing allows the investigator to monitor the ability of regenerated axons to cross the lesion site and increasingly extend into the gray and white matter with time after injury, confirming functional recovery. This zebrafish model provides a paradigm for recovery from spinal cord injury, enabling the identification of pathways and components of neuroregeneration.
- Zebrafish,
- Spinal cord injury,
- Surgery,
- Locomotor recovery,
- Axonal regrowth

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References(18)

References

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