Breeding transgenic zebrafish for studies of retina

在脊椎动物中，视网膜神经回路处理图像，从视觉环境中提取关于颜色、形状、大小和运动的信息。虽然猫、鼠、鼠和兔等实验动物提供了哺乳动物夜间视觉的杰出模型，但斑马鱼像人类和东半球灵长类动物一样，在白天的色觉方面非常出色。斑马鱼是一种四色体动物，有四种锥形感光器类型，对红、绿、蓝和紫外线有选择性的敏感。对处理这种丰富的颜色信息的神经回路的研究可以通过对具有额外特殊用途基因的鱼线的研究来辅助。在这些转基因鱼中，视网膜中选定的神经类型可以在荧光显微镜下可视化，因此这些细胞可以很容易地被识别。这些特殊的转基因株系被开发并用于视网膜的实验研究，在那里它们有助于确定视网膜神经元之间图像处理的电路连接的能力。 在这个方案下产生和维护的斑马鱼品系是在其他实验室创造的，在那里额外的基因被添加到DNA中，或者从DNA中删除。在某些情况下，通过杂交在室内培育出新的菌株。本研究计划中生产的成鱼将根据另一项研究计划(NS002631-26)中描述的目标和目的进行研究。这描述了使用微电极来记录来自视网膜神经元的电信号，并用荧光染料标记它们。由遗传标记和微电极标记组成的组合标记将有助于识别视网膜神经元之间的电路连接，并提供有关图像处理所通过的神经路径的更多信息。

In vertebrate animals, retinal neural circuits process images, extracting information about color, shape size and movement from visual surroundings. While laboratory animals such as cat, rat, mouse and rabbit provide outstanding models of mammalian nocturnal vision, zebrafish, like humans and old-world primates, are remarkable for diurnal color vision. Zebrafish is a tetrachromat with 4 cone photoreceptor types selectively sensitive to red, green, blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. Studies of the neural circuitry through which this rich color information is processed can be aided through studies of fish lines with additional special-purpose genes. In these transgenic fish, selected neural types in retina can be visualized in the fluorescent microscope, so that these cells can be easily recognized. These special transgenic lines are developed and used in experimental studies of the retina, where they aid in the ability to determine circuitry connections for image processing among retinal neurons. The zebrafish lines generated and maintained under this protocol were created in other laboratories, where extra genes were added to, or deleted from, the DNA. In some cases new strains created in house by cross breeding. Adult fish produced in this research program will be studied according to goals and objectives described in another research program (NS002631-26). This describes the use of microelectrodes both to record electrical signals from retinal neurons, and to label them with fluorescent dyes. The combined markers consisting of genetic and microelectrode labels will aid in discerning circuitry connections among retinal neurons, and provide more information about the neural pathways through which images are processed.