Using zebrafish for pre-clinical brain haemorrhage research

中风是一种由大脑血管受损引起的疾病，导致血液供应中断，导致患者严重残疾和死亡。为了了解中风是如何发生的，动物模型是必要的。目前的啮齿动物中风模型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，当大脑的血液供应中断时，免疫系统会导致脑损伤。然而，中风的新治疗方法一直没有找到，所以如果我们要治愈这种疾病，探索新方法是很重要的。该项目的目的是研究使用斑马鱼作为另一种动物模型，以更多地了解免疫系统和大脑血管如何在中风中相互作用。我们特别想用斑马鱼来研究一种脑出血的中风。我们将进行药物筛选，以确定可以减轻这些鱼出血症状的化学物质。我们预测，如果免疫反应可以被关闭，那么就可以减少对大脑的损害。如果成功，这些药物可能被认为是未来中风患者的药物。

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.