Examining Muscle Regeneration in Zebrafish Models of Muscle Disease

Summary

Skeletal muscle regeneration is driven by tissue resident muscle stem cells, which are impaired in many muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy, and this results in the inability of muscle to regenerate. Here, we describe a protocol that allows the examination of muscle regeneration in zebrafish models of muscle disease.

Abstract

Skeletal muscle has a remarkable ability to regenerate following injury, which is driven by obligate tissue resident muscle stem cells. Following injury, the muscle stem cell is activated and undergoes cell proliferation to generate a pool of myoblasts, which subsequently differentiate to form new muscle fibers. In many muscle wasting conditions, including muscular dystrophy and ageing, this process is impaired resulting in the inability of muscle to regenerate. The process of muscle regeneration in zebrafish is highly conserved with mammalian systems providing an excellent system to study muscle stem cell function and regeneration, in muscle wasting conditions such as muscular dystrophy. Here, we present a method to examine muscle regeneration in zebrafish models of muscle disease. The first step involves the use of a genotyping platform that allows the determination of the genotype of the larvae prior to eliciting an injury. Having determined the genotype, the muscle is injured using a needle stab, following which polarizing light microscopy is used to determine the extent of muscle regeneration. We therefore provide a high throughput pipeline which allows the examination of muscle regeneration in zebrafish models of muscle disease.

Introduction

Skeletal muscle accounts for 30-50% of human body mass, and is not only indispensable for locomotion, but it also serves as a critical metabolic and storage organ¹. Despite being postmitotic, skeletal muscle is highly dynamic and retains a tremendous regenerative capacity following injury. This is attributed to the presence of tissue resident stem cells (also called satellite cells), located under the basal lamina of myofibers and marked by the transcription factors paired box protein 7 (pax7) and/or paired box protein 3 (pax3), among others^2,3. Follo....

Protocol

Zebrafish maintenance was carried out as per the standard operating procedures approved by the Monash University Animal Ethics Committee under breeding colony license ERM14481.

1. Determination of the genotype of live embryos using an embryo genotyping platform.

1. Anesthetize 3 days post fertilization (dpf) zebrafish embryos by adding tricaine methanesulfonate to a final concentration of 0.016% (v/v) in embryo medium (5 mM NaCl, 0.17mM KCl, 0.33 mM CaCl₂, 0.33 mM MgSO₄ in water). Wait for 10 minutes to ensure that the fish are completely anesthetized, evident when the fish stop swimming.
2. Prepare the....

Results

The ability to quantify birefringence of skeletal muscle provides a non-invasive but highly reproducible method to examine and compare levels of muscle damage, and examine muscle regeneration in vivo. Birefringence results from the diffraction of polarised light through the pseudo-crystalline array of the muscle sarcomeres¹⁵, and following injury or damage to the muscle, a reduction in birefringence is evident. Likewise, the activation and differentiation .......

Discussion

Skeletal muscle regeneration is driven by obligate tissue resident muscle stem cells, whose function is altered in many muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy, subsequently impeding the process of muscle regeneration. Here, we describe a high throughput protocol to examine muscle regeneration in live zebrafish models of muscle disease. The first step of the pipeline utilizes a embryo genotyping platform¹⁴, which is a user-friendly and accurate method to determine the genotype of live larvae, b.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
24 well plates	Thermo Fischer	142475
30 gauge needles	Terumo	NN-3013R
90 mm Petri Dishes	Pacific Laboratory Products PT	S9014S20
DNA extraction chips	wFluidx	ZEG chips
Embryo genotyping platform	wFluidx	ZEG base unit	Zebrafish Embryo Genotyper
Glass pipette	Hirschmann	9260101
Glass plate dish	WPI	FD35-100	Commonly referred to as FluoroDish
Incubator	Thermoline Scientific	TEI-43L
Plastic pipette	Livingstone	PTP03-01
Polarizing microscope	Abrio	N/A