Use of zebrafish as an animal model for the study of genetic epilepsies

• Grant number: 13/18775-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2014
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Cendes
• Grantee: Marina Coelho Gonsales
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07559-3 - BRAINN - The Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been recognized as a promising animal model for studies of developmental biology and human diseases. Among the many advantages of this model in comparison to rodents are the ease of visualization of early development and relatively low maintenance cost. The zebrafish model is considered genetically useful in the investigation of human diseases, with recent successful applications of this model in epilepsy studies. However, studies using zebrafish to elucidate the mechanisms involved in epilepsy are still relatively scarce. Thus, the main objective of this project is to establish a model for zebrafish genetic epilepsies. Therefore, the strategy initially employed will be knockdown of SCN1A orthologous, which is one of the genes with greater clinical applicability among those already identified for the various epilepsy syndromes, using morpholinos (MO) antisense to block target mRNA expression in zebrafish. The new techniques that will be implemented in the laboratory will allow our group to develop an innovative research line and become more competitive internationally with regard to studies of epilepsy using zebrafish.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GONSALES, MARINA C.; MONTENEGRO, MARIA AUGUSTA; PRETO, PAULA; GUERREIRO, MARILISA M.; COAN, ANA CAROLINA; QUAST, MONICA PAIVA; CARVALHO, BENILTON S.; LOPES-CENDES, ISCIA. Multimodal Analysis of SCN1A Missense Variants Improves Interpretation of Clinically Relevant Variants in Dravet Syndrome. FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY, v. 10, MAR 28 2019. (13/07559-3, 13/18775-9)