Fig. 1

Screening a natural compound library for otoprotective compounds. (A) Examples of larval zebrafish labeled with the vital dye Yo-Pro-1. The left image is of an untreated fish, while the right image shows reduced neuromast fluorescence caused by exposure to 200 μM neomycin. Scale bars = 250 μm. (B) High magnification images of the SO2 neuromast from an untreated fish (left), fish with moderate hair cell damage (center), or fish with severe hair cell damage (right). Damage is evident by nuclear condensation, which results in more intense, punctate labeling, and by fragmentation. The scale bar on the left image = 10 μm and applies to all three panels. (C) Natural compounds protect zebrafish lateral line hair cells from the aminoglycosides neomycin and gentamicin. The initial screen produced nine compounds that protected hair cells from neomycin, 14 from gentamicin, and two from both ototoxins. The majority of the natural compounds screened (477) were not protective.