Using zebrafish for pre-clinical brain haemorrhage research

中风是一种因脑部血管受损而导致血液供应中断的疾病，导致患者严重残疾和死亡。为了了解中风是如何发生的，这种疾病的动物模型是必要的。目前的啮齿类动物中风模型已经提高了我们对这种疾病的认识，我们现在知道中风与免疫系统的激活有关，当大脑血液供应中断时，这会导致脑损伤。然而，一直没有找到任何治疗中风的新方法，因此如果我们要治愈这种疾病，我们就必须探索新的方法。该项目的目的是研究使用斑马鱼作为替代动物模型，以了解更多关于免疫系统和大脑血管如何在中风中相互作用的信息。我们特别想用斑马鱼来研究一种脑出血的中风。我们会进行药物筛选，以找出可减轻这些鱼类出血症状的化学品。我们预测，如果可以关闭免疫反应，那么这可以减少对大脑的损害。如果成功，这些药物可能被认为是中风患者的未来药物。

Stroke is a disease caused by damage to the blood vessels of the brain which leads to disruption of the blood supply, resulting in severe disability and death in patients. To understand how stroke occurs, animal models of the disease are necessary. Current rodent models of stroke have improved our knowledge of the disease and we now know that stroke is associated with activation of the immune system and that this contributes to the brain damage seen when blood supply tothe brain is disrupted. However, there has been a complete failure to find any new treatments for stroke so it is essential we explore new approaches if we are to cure this disease. The aim of this project is to investigate the use of zebrafish as an alternative animal model to understand more about how the immune system and the blood vessels of the brain interact in stroke. In particular we want to use the zebrafish to study a type of stroke where there is bleeding (haemorhage) in thebrain. We will perform drug screening to identify chemicals which can reduce the symptoms of haemorrhage in these fish. We predict that if an immune response can be switched-off, then this could reduce the damage to the brain. If successful, these drugs may be considered as future medicines for stroke patients.