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We modified the Marmarou weight drop model for adult zebrafish to examine a breadth of pathologies following blunt-force traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the mechanisms underlying subsequent neuronal regeneration. This blunt-force TBI model is scalable, induces a mild, moderate, or severe TBI, and recapitulates injury heterogeneity observed in human TBI.
Blunt-force traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are the most common form of head trauma, which spans a range of severities and results in complex and heterogenous secondary effects. While there is no mechanism to replace or regenerate the lost neurons following a TBI in humans, zebrafish possess the ability to regenerate neurons throughout their body, including the brain. To examine the breadth of pathologies exhibited in zebrafish following a blunt-force TBI and to study the mechanisms underlying the subsequent neuronal regenerative response, we modified the commonly used rodent Marmarou weight drop for the use in adult zebrafish. Our simple blunt-force TBI model is scalable, inducing a mild, moderate, or severe TBI, and recapitulates many of the phenotypes observed following human TBI, such as contact- and post-traumatic seizures, edema, subdural and intracerebral hematomas, and cognitive impairments, each displayed in an injury severity-dependent manner. TBI sequelae, which begin to appear within minutes of the injury, subside and return to near undamaged control levels within 7 days post-injury. The regenerative process begins as early as 48 hours post-injury (hpi), with the peak cell proliferation observed by 60 hpi. Thus, our zebrafish blunt-force TBI model produces characteristic primary and secondary injury TBI pathologies similar to human TBI, which allows for investigating disease onset and progression, along with the mechanisms of neuronal regeneration that is unique to zebrafish.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a global health crisis and a leading cause of death and disability. In the United States, approximately 2.9 million people experience a TBI each year, and between 2006-2014 mortality due to TBI or TBI sequelae increased by over 50%1. However, TBIs vary in their etiology, pathology, and clinical presentation due largely in part to the mechanism of injury (MOI), which also influences treatment strategies and predicted prognosis2. Though TBIs can result from various MOI, they are predominately the result of either a penetrating or blunt-force trauma. Penetrating traumas represent a small percentage of TBIs and generate a severe and focal injury that is localized to the immediate and surrounding impaled brain regions3. In contrast, blunt-force TBIs are more common in the general population, span a range of severities (mild, moderate, and severe), and produce a diffuse, heterogeneous, and global injury affecting multiple brain regions1,4,5.
Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have been utilized to examine a wide range of neurological insults spanning the central nervous system (CNS)6,7,8,9. Zebrafish also possess, unlike mammals, an innate and robust regenerative response to repair CNS damage10. Current zebrafish trauma models use various injury methods, including penetration, excision, chemical insult, or pressure waves11,12,13,14,15,16. However, each of these methods utilizes an MOI that is rarely experienced by the human population, is not scalable across a range of injury severities, and does not address the heterogeneity or severity-dependent TBI sequela reported after blunt-force TBI. These factors limit the use of the zebrafish model to understand the underlying mechanisms of the pathologies associated with the most common form of TBI in the human population (mild blunt-force injuries).
We aimed to develop a rapid and scalable blunt-force TBI zebrafish model that provides avenues to investigate injury pathology, progression of TBI sequela, and the innate regenerative response. We modified the commonly used rodent Marmarou17 weight drop and applied it to adult zebrafish. This model yields a reproducible range of severities ranging from mild, moderate, to severe. This model also recapitulates multiple facets of human TBI pathology, in a severity-dependent manner, including seizures, edema, subdural and intracerebral hematomas, neuronal cell death, and cognitive deficits, such as learning and memory impairment. Days following injury, pathologies and deficits dissipate, returning to levels resembling undamaged controls. Additionally, this zebrafish model displays a robust proliferation and neuronal regeneration response across the neuroaxis concerning injury severity.
Here, we provide details toward the set up and induction of blunt-force trauma, scoring post-traumatic seizures, assessment of vascular injuries, instructions on preparing brain sections, approaches to quantifying edema, and insight into the proliferative response following injury.
Zebrafish were raised and maintained in the Notre Dame Zebrafish facility in the Freimann Life Sciences Center. The methods described in this manuscript were approved by the University of Notre Dame Animal Care and Use Committee.
1. Traumatic brain injury paradigm
2. Scoring seizures post-TBI in the adult zebrafish
3. Brain dissection
4. Edema studies in the zebrafish brain
5. Labeling cellular proliferation across the neuroaxis and preparing fixed tissue.
Preparing the injury-induction rig allows for a rapid and simplistic means of delivering a scalable blunt-force TBI to adult zebrafish. The graded severity of the injury model provides several easily identifiable metrics of successful injury, though the vascular injury is one of the easiest and most prominent pathologies (Figure 3). The strain of fish used during the injury can make this indicator easier or harder to identify. When using wild-type AB fish(WTAB, <...
Investigations of neurotrauma and associated sequelae have long been centered on traditional non-regenerative rodent models20. Only recently have studies applied various forms of CNS damage to regenerative models9,11,13,14,21. Though insightful, these models are limited by either their use of an injury method uncommonly seen in the huma...
The authors have nothing to disclose.
The authors would like to thank the Hyde lab members for their thoughtful discussions, the Freimann Life Sciences Center technicians for zebrafish care and husbandry, and the University of Notre Dame Optical Microscopy Core/NDIIF for the use of instruments and their services. This work was supported by the Center for Zebrafish Research at the University of Notre Dame, the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, and grants from National Eye Institute of NIH R01-EY018417 (DRH), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (JTH), LTC Neil Hyland Fellowship of Notre Dame (JTH), Sentinels of Freedom Fellowship (JTH), and the Pat Tillman Scholarship (JTH).
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
2-phenoxyethanol | Sigma Alderich | 77699 | |
#00 buckshot | Remington | RMS23770 | 3.3g weight for sTBI |
#3 buckshot | Remington | RMS23776 | 1.5g weight for miTBI/moTBI |
#5 Dumont forceps | WPI | 14098 | |
5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine | Life Technologies | A10044 | EdU |
5ml glass vial | VWR | 66011-063 | |
Click-iT EdU Cell Proliferation Kit | Life Technologies | C10340 | |
CytoOne 12-well plate | USA Scientific | CC7682-7512 | |
Instant Ocean | Instant Ocean | SS15-10 | |
Super frost postiviely charged slides | VWR | 48311-703 | |
Super PAP Pen Liquid Blocker | Ted Pella | 22309 | |
Tissue freezing medium | VWR | 15148-031 |
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