PUBLICATION

The zebrafish embryo as a dynamic model of anoxia tolerance

Authors
Mendelsohn, B.A., Kassebaum, B.L., and Gitlin, J.D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-080610-13
Date
2008
Source
Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists   237(7): 1780-1788 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Gitlin, Jonathan D.
Keywords
zebrafish, mitochondria, AMPK, growth control
MeSH Terms
  • AMP-Activated Protein Kinases/metabolism
  • Adaptation, Physiological
  • Animals
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism*
  • Energy Metabolism
  • Hypoxia/metabolism*
  • Hypoxia/physiopathology
  • Immunoblotting
  • Mitochondria/metabolism
  • Models, Biological*
  • Oxygen/metabolism
  • Signal Transduction
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/metabolism*
PubMed
18521954 Full text @ Dev. Dyn.
Abstract
Developing organisms depend upon a delicate balance in the supply and demand of energy to adapt to variable oxygen availability, although the essential mechanisms determining such adaptation remain elusive. In this study, we examine reversible anoxic arrest and dynamic bioenergetic transitions during zebrafish development. Our data reveal that the duration of anoxic viability corresponds to the developmental stage and anaerobic metabolic rate. Diverse chemical inhibitors of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation induce a similar arrest in normoxic embryos, suggesting a pathway responsive to perturbations in aerobic energy production rather than molecular oxygen. Consistent with this concept, arrest is accompanied by rapid activation of the energy-sensing AMP-activated protein kinase pathway, demonstrating a potential link between the sensing of energy status and adaptation to oxygen availability. These observations permit mechanistic insight into energy homeostasis during development that now enable genetic and small molecule screens in this vertebrate model of anoxia tolerance.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Show all Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping