Zebrafish as an alternative model for hypoxic-ischemic brain damage

Acute cerebral ischemia is one of the leading causes of mortality and chronic disability. Animal models provide an essential tool for understanding the complex cellular and molecular pathophysiology of hypoxic-ischemia and for testing novel neuroprotective drugs in the pre-clinical setting. In this study we tested zebrafish as a novel model for hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. We built an air-proof chamber where water inside had a low oxygen concentration (0.6-0.8 mg/L) proximate to complete hypoxia. Each zebrafish was placed individually in the hypoxia chamber and was subjected to hypoxia treatment until it became motionless, lying on its side on the bottom of the chamber (time to hypoxia = 679.52 ± 90 seconds, mean ± SD, n =23), followed by transferring into a recovery beaker. Overall, 60.87% of subjects did not recover from hypoxia while 39% survived. The size and distribution of brain injury were determined by triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. Bilateral, moderate to complete TTC decoloration or demarcation of the infarct after 10 minutes of hypoxic treatment was clearly visible in the optic tectum of the optic lobe. The size of the infarct expanded to the deep structure of the optic lobe with longer hypoxic treatments. The zebrafish that survived hypoxia experienced initial twitching followed by unbalanced erratic movements until they regained coordinated, balanced swimming ability. These data indicate that zebrafish are susceptible to hypoxic attack and suggest that the model we present in this study can be used as an alternative model to evaluate hypoxia-induced brain damage.