Elwood Linney

Windows into development: historic, current, and future perspectives on transgenic zebrafish.

The recent explosion of transgenic zebrafish lines in the literature demonstrates the value of this model system for detailed in vivo analysis of gene regulation and morphogenetic movements. The optical clarity and rapid early development of zebrafish provides the ability to follow these events as they occur in live, developing embryos. This article will review the development of transgenic technology in zebrafish as well as the current and future uses of transgenic zebrafish to explore the dynamic environment of the developing vertebrate embryo.

Retinoic acid induction and regional differentiation prefigure olfactory pathway formation in the mammalian forebrain

We have used an in vitro assay to identify sources of retinoic acid (RA) and transgenic mice to identify target domains in the developing forebrain. RA participates in a sequence of events that leads to the establishment of the olfactory pathway. First, the lateral cranial mesoderm activates an RA-inducible transgene in neuroepithelial cells in the olfactory placode and the ventrolateral forebrain. Then, neurons and neurites begin to differentiate in these two regions. Finally, olfactory axons grow specifically into the ventrolateral forebrain and subsequently are limited to the olfactory bulb rudiment. The coordination of these events, perhaps by common signals, implies that retinoid induction and retinoid-activated region-specific transcriptional regulation may help to define a forebrain subdivision and the peripheral neurons that provide its primary innervation.

Zebrafish provide a sensitive model of persisting neurobehavioral effects of developmental chlorpyrifos exposure: Comparison with nicotine and pilocarpine effects and relationship to dopamine deficits

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) an organophosphate pesticide causes persisting behavioral dysfunction in rat models when exposure is during early development. In earlier work zebrafish were used as a complementary model to study mechanisms of CPF-induced neurotoxicity induced during early development. We found that developmental (first five days after fertilization) chlorpyrifos exposure significantly impaired learning in zebrafish. However, this testing was time and labor intensive. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that persisting effects of developmental chlorpyrifos could be detected with a brief automated assessment of startle response and that this behavioral index could be used to help determine the neurobehavioral mechanisms for persisting CPF effects. The swimming activity of adult zebrafish was assessed by a computerized video-tracking device after a sudden tap to the test arena. Ten consecutive trials (1/min) were run to determine startle response and its habituation. Additionally, habituation recovery trials were run at 8, 32 and 128 min after the end of the initial trial set. CPF-exposed fish showed a significantly (p<0.025) greater overall startle response during the 10-trial session compared to controls (group sizes: Control N=40, CPF N=24). During the initial recovery period (8 min) CPF-exposed fish showed a significantly (p<0.01) greater startle response compared to controls. To elucidate the contributions of nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors to developmental CPF-mediated effects, the effects of developmental nicotine and pilocarpine exposure throughout the first five days after fertilization were determined. Developmental nicotine and pilocarpine exposure significantly increased startle response, though nicotine (group sizes: Control N=32, 15 mM N=12, 25 mM N=20) was much more potent than pilocarpine (group sizes: Control N=20, 100 microM N=16, 1000 microM N=12). Neither was as potent as CPF for developmental exposure increasing startle response in adulthood. Lastly, developmental CPF exposure decreased dopamine and serotonin levels and increased transmitter turnover in developing zebrafish larvae (N=4 batches of 50 embryos/treatment). Only the decline in dopamine concentrations persisted into adulthood (group sizes: Control N=14, CPF N=13). This study shows that a quick automated test of startle can detect persisting neurobehavioral impairments caused by developmental exposure to CPF. This may be helpful in screening for persisting neurobehavioral defects from a variety of toxicants.

Chlorpyrifos exposure of developing zebrafish: effects on survival and long-term effects on response latency and spatial discrimination

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is a widely used insecticide, which has been shown to interfere with neurobehavioral development. Rat models have been key in demonstrating that prenatal CPF exposure causes choice accuracy deficits and motor alterations, which persist into adulthood. Complementary nonmammalian models can be useful in determining the molecular mechanisms underlying the persisting behavioral effects of developmental CPF exposure. Zebrafish with their clear chorion and extensive developmental information base provide an excellent model for assessment of molecular processes of toxicant impacted neurodevelopment. To facilitate the use of the zebrafish model and to compare it to the more typical rodent models, the behavioral phenotype of CPF toxicity in zebrafish must be well characterized. Our laboratory has developed methods for assessing spatial discrimination learning in zebrafish, which can differentiate response latency from choice accuracy in a three chambered fish tank. Low and high doses of CPF (10 and 100 ng/ml on days 1-5 postfertilization) both had significant persisting effects on both spatial discrimination and response latency over 18 weeks of testing. The high, but not the low dose, significantly accelerated mortality rates of the fish during the study from 20-38 weeks of age. Developmental exposure to either 10 or 100 ng/ml of CPF caused significant spatial discrimination impairments in zebrafish when they were adults. The impairment caused by 10 ng/ml was seen during early but not later testing, while the impairment caused by 100 ng/ml became more pronounced with continued testing. The higher dose caused a more pervasive impairment. The 10 and 100 ng/ml doses had opposite effects on response latency. The low 10 ng/ml dose significantly slowed response latency, while the high 100 ng/ml dose significant increased response latency. Both of these effects diminished with continued testing. CPF exposure during early development caused clear behavioral impairments, which lasted throughout adulthood in zebrafish. The molecular mechanisms by which early developmental CPF exposure produces these behavioral impairments expressed in adulthood can now be studied in the zebrafish model.

Feedback mechanisms regulate retinoic acid production and degradation in the zebrafish embryo

Retinoic acid (RA) signaling in vertebrate embryos occurs in a distinct physical and temporal pattern. Regulating this spatial distribution is crucial to the development of the embryo, as RA in excess or in inappropriate tissues is teratogenic. In order to understand how RA availability is determined in zebrafish we have investigated the expression of cyp26a1, an enzyme that inactivates RA, and its relationship to raldh2, one of the enzymes that produce RA from retinal. cyp26a1 expression follows three phases: in presumptive anterior neurectoderm and in a circumblastoporal ring during gastrulation, in the tailbud throughout somitogenesis, and in multiple specific tissue types beginning at mid-somitogenesis and continuing through 48 h postfertilization (hpf). This expression was either adjacent or opposite to those tissues expressing raldh2. We then investigated how RA production might regulate these relationships. Endogenous RA produced by raldhs did not play a role in setting cyp26a1 expression in most tissues. However, exogenous RA regulates expression of both enzymes. cyp26a1 is up regulated in the embryo in a time, concentration, and tissue-dependent manner. Conversely, raldh2 expression is reduced with RA treatment. Tests of the raldh2 promoter in cell transfections proved that RA directly represses its activity. These data demonstrate that the feedback mechanisms regulating production and degradation of RA must be considered in any experiments altering levels of RA in the developing vertebrate embryo.

Mutation near the polyoma DNA replication origin permits productive infection of F9 embryonal carcinoma cells

F9 mouse embryonal carcinoma cells are resistant to productive infection by wild-type polyoma virus. Continued passage of F9 cells initially infected with wild-type polyoma virus eventually leads to the selection of polyoma virus mutants that are capable of productive infection of undifferentiated F9 cells. Three mutants, PyF101, PyF111 and PyF441, have been plaque-purified and examined. All three PyF mutant DNAs are altered from the wild-type sequence in the Pvu II-4 fragment that spans 67.6 to 70.2 map units on the polyoma genome. PyF441 has a single base change of A to G at 69.6 map units. PyF101 and PyF111 DNAs also contain this point mutation at 69.6 map units. In addition, PyF101 and PyF111 DNAs have exact tandem duplications of 54 and 31 bp, respectively, of sequences encompassing the point mutation, and both copies of the tandem duplication have the point mutation. Other than these changes, no difference exists in the nucleotide sequences of wild-type and PyF mutant DNAs from the BcI I site at 65.6 map units clockwise through the origin of viral DNA replication to the BgI I site at 72.2 map units. DNA infections of F9 cells with wild-type-mutant hybrid DNAs formed by ligation of heterologous combinations of the small and large DNA fragments generated by double digestion with the restriction enzymes BcII and BGI I show that the DNA sequence changes described above are responsible for the ability of the PyF mutants to infect F9 cells.

Retinoic acid receptors: transcription factors modulating gene regulation, development, and differentiation.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the relatively new field of retinoic acid receptors (RARs) with that of the biological effects of retinoids and suggests the roles for these receptors and strategies for experimentally examining RAR function and specificity. The RARs are members of a superfamily of ligand-inducible transcription factors that includes the steroid receptors, the thyroid hormone receptors, and the vitamin D3 receptor. The RARs remain a very attractive set of candidate genes that may play pivotal roles in differentiation, development, and gene regulation. The chapter describes the modular structure and the molecular specificity of the steroid receptor-like retinoic acid and retinoid X receptors, the biological roles of retinoic acid as well as the current and future approaches for dissecting the developmental specificity and function of the retinoic acid receptors and retinoid X receptors.

Differential acetylcholinesterase inhibition of chlorpyrifos, diazinon and parathion in larval zebrafish

Zebrafish are increasingly used for developmental neurotoxicity testing because early embryonic events are easy to visualize, exposures are done without affecting the mother and the rapid development of zebrafish allows for high throughput testing. We used zebrafish to examine how exposures to three different organophosphorus pesticides (chlorpyrifos, diazinon and parathion) over the first five days of embryonic and larval development of zebrafish affected their survival, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and behavior. We show that at non-lethal, equimolar concentrations, chlorpyrifos (CPF) is more effective at equimolar concentrations than diazinon (DZN) and parathion (PA) in producing AChE inhibition. As concentrations of DZN and PA are raised, lethality occurs before they can produce the degree of AChE inhibition observed with CPF at 300 nM. Because of its availability outside the mother at the time of fertilization, zebrafish provides a complementary model for studying the neurotoxicity of very early developmental exposures.

Antioxidant Responses and NRF2 in Synergistic Developmental Toxicity of PAHs in Zebrafish

Early piscine life stages are sensitive to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, which can cause pericardial effusion and craniofacial malformations. We previously reported that certain combinations of PAHs cause synergistic developmental toxicity, as observed with coexposure to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist beta-naphthoflavone (BNF) and cytochrome P4501A inhibitor alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF). Herein, we hypothesized that oxidative stress is a component of this toxicity. We examined induction of antioxidant genes in zebrafish embryos (Danio rerio) exposed to BNF or ANF individually, a BNF + ANF combination, and a prooxidant positive control, tert-butylhydroperoxide (tBOOH). We measured total glutathione (GSH) and attempted to modulate deformities using the GSH synthesis inhibitor L-buthionine (S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO) and increase GSH pools with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). In addition, we used a morpholino to knockdown expression of the antioxidant response element transcription factor NRF2 to determine if this would alter gene expression or increase deformity severity. BNF + ANF coexposure significantly increased expressions of superoxide dismutase 1 and 2, glutathione peroxidase 1, pi class glutathione-s-transferase, and glutamate cysteine-ligase to a greater extent than tBOOH, BNF, or ANF alone. BSO pretreatment decreased some GSH levels, but did not worsen deformities, nor did NAC diminish toxicity. Knockdown of NRF2 increased mortality following tBOOH challenge, prevented significant upregulation of antioxidant genes following both tBOOH and BNF + ANF exposures, and exacerbated BNF + ANF-related deformities. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that antioxidant responses are a component of PAH synergistic developmental toxicity and that NRF2 is protective against prooxidant and PAH challenges during development.

Magnetic resonance microscopy of embryos

We demonstrate that magnetic resonance (MR) microscopy provides a mechanism to investigate normal and abnormal developmental anatomy in a non-destructive and distortion-free manner. Techniques for the fixation, embedding, perfusion and image acquisition of embryos between 3 and 30 mm crown rump length are described. We describe the perfusion of a contrast agent to enhance images of the developing embryonic vasculature. Data are acquired as three-dimensional isotropic arrays which permit images to be reformatted retrospectively in any plane. The data are available for archiving, distributing and for post-acquisition manipulations. MR microscopy is a fast technique for producing three-dimensional reconstructions and is free from registration and sectioning artifacts.