PUBLICATION

Slow degeneration of zebrafish Rohon-Beard neurons during programmed cell death

Authors
Reyes, R., Haendel, M., Grant, D., Melançon, E., and Eisen, J.S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-040109-22
Date
2004
Source
Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists   229(1): 30-41 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Eisen, Judith S., Haendel, Melissa A., Melançon (Brandenburg), Ellie, Reyes, Rosie
Keywords
autophagy, apoptosis, TUNEL, DRG neuron
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Apoptosis
  • DNA Fragmentation
  • Ganglia, Spinal/cytology
  • Ganglia, Spinal/embryology
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Luminescent Proteins/genetics
  • Nerve Degeneration
  • Neurons/cytology*
  • Recombinant Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
  • Zebrafish/genetics
PubMed
14699575 Full text @ Dev. Dyn.
Abstract
Rohon-Beard cells are large, mechanosensory neurons located in the dorsal spinal cord of anamniote vertebrates. In most species studied to date, these cells die during development. We followed labeled Rohon-Beard cells in living zebrafish embryos and found that they degenerate slowly, over many days. During degeneration, the soma shrinks and finally disappears, and the processes become beady in appearance and finally break apart, but they do not retract. Zebrafish Rohon-Beard cells apparently fragment their DNA, as revealed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) labeling, before undergoing degenerative morphologic changes. We also followed the development of labeled dorsal root ganglion neurons, as they are developing at the same stages that Rohon-Beard cells are degenerating. We found that, although axons of both cell types extend into similar regions, Rohon-Beard cells degenerate normally in mutants lacking dorsal root ganglia, providing evidence that interactions between the two cell types are not responsible for Rohon-Beard cell degeneration.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping