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Published on: April 18, 2017
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Long-lived zebrafish Rohon-Beard cells.
Kristina Williams1, Angeles B Ribera1
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 12800 E. 19th Avenue, RC1N-7129, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
Developmental Biology
|May 31, 2020
Summary
Many early-born Rohon-Beard neurons in zebrafish survive past embryonic stages, challenging previous assumptions of their extensive developmental cell death. These neurons exhibit unique cell death properties and prolonged survival, suggesting unrecognized functions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- Neuronal development involves significant cell proliferation and death.
- Rohon-Beard cells, early somatosensory neurons, were thought to largely disappear during embryogenesis.
- Recent studies question the extent of Rohon-Beard cell death in zebrafish development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the survival rate and cell death properties of zebrafish Rohon-Beard cells.
- To determine if Rohon-Beard cells undergo extensive programmed cell death during embryogenesis.
- To identify potential unrecognized roles of surviving Rohon-Beard cells in larval zebrafish.
Main Methods:
- Identification of Rohon-Beard cells at one day post-fertilization.
- Utilizing mosaic and stable transgenic labeling for cell tracking.
- Repeated observation of labeled cells for 13-16 days post-fertilization.
- Assessing cell death markers like phosphatidylserine exposure and activated-caspase-3.
Main Results:
- Approximately 40% of identified Rohon-Beard cells survive to late larval stages.
- A significant portion (25%) of Rohon-Beard cells expose phosphatidylserine, a cell death marker, at one day.
- Less than one Rohon-Beard cell per embryo shows activated-caspase-3, another cell death indicator.
- A considerable temporal delay exists between cell death marker detection and soma loss.
Conclusions:
- Contrary to previous beliefs, a substantial number of zebrafish Rohon-Beard cells survive embryogenesis.
- Rohon-Beard cells exhibit an atypical pattern of cell death.
- The prolonged survival of Rohon-Beard cells suggests they may have uncharacterized functions in larval zebrafish.
