PUBLICATION
Extensive growth is followed by neurodegenerative pathology in the continuously expanding adult zebrafish retina
- Authors
- Van Houcke, J., Geeraerts, E., Vanhunsel, S., Beckers, A., Noterdaeme, L., Christiaens, M., Bollaerts, I., De Groef, L., Moons, L.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-181102-2
- Date
- 2018
- Source
- Biogerontology 20(1): 109-125 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- Aging, Growth, Neurodegeneration, Neurogenesis, Retina, Zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Neurodegenerative Diseases*/pathology
- Neurodegenerative Diseases*/physiopathology
- Cellular Senescence/physiology*
- Zebrafish
- Retina*/growth & development
- Retina*/pathology
- Disease Models, Animal
- Aging*/pathology
- Aging*/physiology
- Animals
- Central Nervous System/growth & development
- Central Nervous System/pathology
- PubMed
- 30382466 Full text @ Biogerontology
Citation
Van Houcke, J., Geeraerts, E., Vanhunsel, S., Beckers, A., Noterdaeme, L., Christiaens, M., Bollaerts, I., De Groef, L., Moons, L. (2018) Extensive growth is followed by neurodegenerative pathology in the continuously expanding adult zebrafish retina. Biogerontology. 20(1):109-125.
Abstract
The development of effective treatments for age-related neurodegenerative diseases remains one of the biggest medical challenges today, underscoring the high need for suitable animal model systems to improve our understanding of aging and age-associated neuropathology. Zebrafish have become an indispensable complementary model organism in gerontology research, yet their growth-control properties significantly differ from those in mammals. Here, we took advantage of the clearly defined and highly conserved structure of the fish retina to study the relationship between the processes of growth and aging in the adult zebrafish central nervous system (CNS). Detailed morphological measurements reveal an early phase of extensive retinal growth, where both the addition of new cells and stretching of existent tissue drive the increase in retinal surface. Thereafter, and coinciding with a significant decline in retinal growth rate, a neurodegenerative phenotype becomes apparent,-characterized by a loss of synaptic integrity, an age-related decrease in cell density and the onset of cellular senescence. Altogether, these findings support the adult zebrafish retina as a valuable model for gerontology research and CNS disease modeling and will hopefully stimulate further research into the mechanisms of aging and age-related pathology.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping