Benin Joseph, Basilea Gunalan, S. Jyothi
Neurological disorders have become more common and prevalent. Cellular pathology and behavioural symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases although connected are still a mystery to solve with no complete cure available yet. Central pathways in neurodegeneration involves impaired ubiquitin-proteasome machinery, autophagy and mitochondrial oxidative stress. In the case of neurodevlopmental disorders, environmental toxins and genetic factors are main causative agents. We aim to create a toxicity induced zebrafish model of neurological disease focussing on cognition, movement and hyperactivity disorders. Zebra fish embryos at 48 hr post fertilization were treated with different doses of lead, cholesterol and acetyl choline and by 7 days post fertilization pectoral fin movement, swimming behaviour and touch response were compromised in parallel with apoptosis identified in the brain by acridine orange fluorescent staining. A marked window is observed, therefore promising for a drug screening platform. Further characterization of pathology associated protein expression and specific behavioural studies could render this as a simple promising toxic model for preclinical drug screening.
