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Updated: May 27, 2026
Zebrafish In Situ Spinal Cord Preparation for Electrophysiological Recordings from Spinal Sensory and Motor Neurons
Published on: April 18, 2017
An mnr2b/hlxb9lb enhancer trap line that labels spinal and abducens motor neurons in zebrafish
Kazuhide Asakawa1, Shin-ichi Higashijima, Koichi Kawakami
1Division of Molecular and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Genetics, Department of Genetics, Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan.
Background:
The developing nervous system consists of a variety of cell types. Animal models that allow the visualization of specific classes of neurons are crucial for the study of neuronal networks.
Results:
We performed an enhancer trap screening in zebrafish and generated a collection of transgenic lines that expressed GFP in a spatially and temporally restricted manner. Among the fish generated, we identified an insertion of the enhancer trap construct in the vicinity of the mnr2b/hlxb9lb gene encoding the mnx class of homeodomain transcription factor. The insertion gave rise to GFP expression predominantly in spinal motor neurons and abducens motor neurons. During embryogenesis, GFP expression was also detected in endodermal and mesodermal tissues, where mnr2b is known to be expressed.
Conclusion:
These results show that the enhancer trap construct recapitulated the expression pattern of the mnr2b gene and this transgenic line should be useful for the visualization of the spinal and abducens motor neurons in the developing nervous system.
