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The method we describe here allows easy and rapid administration of morpholinos into the adult zebrafish brain. We have demonstrated that our injection method efficiently blocks gene expression in the ventricular cells and results in functional consequences in the neurogenesis response.
There are important points to be cautious about while executing the cerebroventricular microinjection. For instance, the effect of the morpholino molecules depends on the concentration used. This concentration has to be determined by the end-user. We recommend starting with the stock solution (500 μM) and performing serial dilutions, and ideally to pre-test by injection into embryos using standard embryo injection protocols 28-30. Previously, we obtained different levels of knockdown efficiency with concentrations of morpholinos ranging from 50 μM to 500 μM 22. Second, the orifice of the glass capillary should not be large as this will lead to extensive liquid influx into the brain after the injection. Similarly, the opening must not be too narrow as this will prevent adequate injection. One can determine the optimum orifice-pressure combination by pumping air into a Petri dish with water. The bubbles arising should be in a single row but not in multiple rows. We demonstrate this in the video. Third, incubating the fish in the anesthetics is critical. The fish should not be kept longer than 2 min in the anesthetics. This will hamper the recovery rate after the injection. Fourth, the location of the incision is critical for thoroughly dispersing the injected liquid. The ventricular region over the optic tectum is larger above the midline and gets narrower laterally. Therefore, the experimenter should generate the slit in the skull close to the midline and just caudal to the skull plate covering the telencephalic region.
One of the advantages of the cerebroventricular injection (CVMI) method is its rapidness. CVMI is a quick method for assaying gene function. This feature is important and useful when compared to generation of transgenic lines for functional studies, which generally take several months. Additionally, CVMI leads to uniform distribution of the injected liquid and therefore provides a relatively thorough manipulation of gene activity, when compared to focal injections or electroporation. With CVMI, multiple genes can be knocked down simultaneously by preparing injection mixes containing multiple morpholinos oligonucleotide. CVMI can be used to inject different concentrations of a given morpholino oligonucleotides, and therefore can be used for analyzing hypomorphic phenotypes. Finally, this injection paradigm does not cause toxicity or compromise the survival of the animals.
The CVMI technique might be expanded for other type of studies such as injection of modulatory peptides, drugs, plasmid DNA or modulatory RNA molecules or other substances that might affect the physiology of the cells. Assaying combination of molecules and performing dose response analyses are possible using our method, allowing studying hypomorphic phenotypes. With these properties, CVMI proves to be a quick and easy assay for expression studies in the adult zebrafish brain, and opens up rapid screening and functional analyses.
The adult zebrafish brain can constitutively produce new neurons along the whole rostrocaudal axis and it can also regenerate after traumatic injuries. This is in stark contrast to mammalian brains with limited neurogenesis and if at all, rather poor regenerative capacity. Such widespread stem cell activity and recuperation ability makes zebrafish a useful model organism for understanding the molecular programs required for central nervous system regeneration, which are currently largely unknown. Therefore, investigating the molecular basis of the regenerative aptitude of zebrafish brain is an interesting realm of research that might explain the fundamental difference how fish and mammalian brains react after an injury, and also endow avenues for regenerative medical therapies in humans. In order to understand the molecular infrastructure of vertebrate brain plasticity and regeneration, glial cells serve as an important research area as they are the neurogenic progenitors 3,8,20. Thus, using CVMI technique to alter gene function in the radial glial cells of the zebrafish brain is instrumental in elucidating how fish brain can couple progenitor activity to efficient adult neurogenesis and regenerative response. We have recently shown the involvement and requirement of several factors and signaling pathways in the regenerative neurogenesis response of the adult zebrafish brain 24,26,27, and these studies were made possible by the use of CVMI method. Overall, the knowledge we gain from zebrafish brain could be harnessed to impose regenerative ability to the mammalian glial cells that react to injuries and will hence help designing clinical therapies for human neurological disorders and acute injuries.