Dataset Information

Gene-expression analysis of hair cell regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line.

ABSTRACT: Deafness caused by the terminal loss of inner ear hair cells is one of the most common sensory diseases. However, nonmammalian animals (e.g., birds, amphibians, and fish) regenerate damaged hair cells. To understand better the reasons underpinning such disparities in regeneration among vertebrates, we set out to define at high resolution the changes in gene expression associated with the regeneration of hair cells in the zebrafish lateral line. We performed RNA-Seq analyses on regenerating support cells purified by FACS. The resulting expression data were subjected to pathway enrichment analyses, and the differentially expressed genes were validated in vivo via whole-mount in situ hybridizations. We discovered that cell cycle regulators are expressed hours before the activation of Wnt/?-catenin signaling following hair cell death. We propose that Wnt/?-catenin signaling is not involved in regulating the onset of proliferation but governs proliferation at later stages of regeneration. In addition, and in marked contrast to mammals, our data clearly indicate that the Notch pathway is significantly down-regulated shortly after injury, thus uncovering a key difference between the zebrafish and mammalian responses to hair cell injury. Taken together, our findings lay the foundation for identifying differences in signaling pathway regulation that could be exploited as potential therapeutic targets to promote either sensory epithelium or hair cell regeneration in mammals.

SUBMITTER: Jiang L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3986165 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Gene-expression analysis of hair cell regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line.

Jiang Linjia L Romero-Carvajal Andres A Haug Jeff S JS Seidel Christopher W CW Piotrowski Tatjana T

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20140327 14

Deafness caused by the terminal loss of inner ear hair cells is one of the most common sensory diseases. However, nonmammalian animals (e.g., birds, amphibians, and fish) regenerate damaged hair cells. To understand better the reasons underpinning such disparities in regeneration among vertebrates, we set out to define at high resolution the changes in gene expression associated with the regeneration of hair cells in the zebrafish lateral line. We performed RNA-Seq analyses on regenerating suppo ...[more]

PMID: 24706903

Similar Datasets

Project description:In humans, the absence or irreversible loss of hair cells, the sensory mechanoreceptors in the cochlea, accounts for a large majority of acquired and congenital hearing disorders. In the auditory and vestibular neuroepithelia of the inner ear, hair cells are accompanied by another cell type called supporting cells. This second cell population has been described as having stem cell-like properties, allowing efficient hair cell replacement during embryonic and larval/fetal development of all vertebrates. However, mammals lose their regenerative capacity in most inner ear neuroepithelia in postnatal life. Remarkably, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish are different in that they can regenerate hair cells throughout their lifespan. The lateral line in amphibians and in fish is an additional sensory organ, which is used to detect water movements and is comprised of neuroepithelial patches, called neuromasts. These are similar in ultra-structure to the inner ear's neuroepithelia and they share the expression of various molecular markers. We examined the regeneration process in hair cells of the lateral line of zebrafish larvae carrying a retroviral integration in a previously uncharacterized gene, phoenix (pho). Phoenix mutant larvae develop normally and display a morphologically intact lateral line. However, after ablation of hair cells with copper or neomycin, their regeneration in pho mutants is severely impaired. We show that proliferation in the supporting cells is strongly decreased after damage to hair cells and correlates with the reduction of newly formed hair cells in the regenerating phoenix mutant neuromasts. The retroviral integration linked to the phenotype is in a novel gene with no known homologs showing high expression in neuromast supporting cells. Whereas its role during early development of the lateral line remains to be addressed, in later larval stages phoenix defines a new class of proteins implicated in hair cell regeneration.

Project description:Key pointsWe investigated hair-cell regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line following the application of the ototoxic compound copper. In early-larval zebrafish (<10 days post-fertilisation), regenerated hair cells drive action potentials (APs) in the afferent neurons 24 h post-copper treatment (24 hpt). Full regeneration of the early-larval neuromasts, the organs containing the hair cells, requires ∼48 h due to the progressive addition of hair cells and synaptic refinement. In older larval zebrafish, regenerated hair cells are active and drive afferent APs by 48 hpt, which is comparable to larvae, but the functional recovery of their neuromasts requires >120 hpt. Afferent terminals within the regenerating neuromast appear to initially contact supporting cells, and their complete ablation prevents the timely reappearance of supporting cells and hair cells. We conclude that the regeneration of zebrafish neuromasts is slower after the initial developmental stages, and that the afferent input plays a key role in driving this process.AbstractHair cells are mechanosensory receptors responsible for transducing auditory and vestibular information into electrical signals, which are then transmitted with remarkable precision to afferent neurons. Different from mammals, the hair cells of lower vertebrates, including those present in the neuromasts of the zebrafish lateral line, regenerate following environmental or chemical insults. Here we investigate the time course of regeneration of hair cells in vivo using electrophysiology, two-photon imaging and immunostaining applied to wild-type and genetically encoded fluorescent indicator zebrafish lines. Functional hair cells drive spontaneous action potentials in the posterior lateral line afferent fibres, the frequency of which progressively increases over the first 10 days post-fertilisation (dpf). Higher firing-rate fibres are only observed from ∼6 dpf. Following copper treatment, newly formed hair cells become functional and are able to drive APs in the afferent fibres within 48 h in both early-larval (≤8 dpf) and late-larval (12-17 dpf) zebrafish. However, the complete functional regeneration of the entire neuromast is delayed in late-larval compared to early-larval zebrafish. We propose that while individual regenerating hair cells can rapidly become active, the acquisition of fully functional neuromasts progresses faster at early-larval stages, a time when hair cells are still under development. At both ages, the afferent terminals in the regenerating neuromast appear to make initial contact with supporting cells. The ablation of the lateral line afferent neurons prevents the timely regeneration of supporting cells and hair cells. These findings indicate that the afferent system is likely to facilitate or promote the neuromast regeneration process.

Project description:Hearing loss is most commonly caused by the destruction of mechanosensory hair cells in the ear. This condition is usually permanent: Despite the presence of putative hair-cell progenitors in the cochlea, hair cells are not naturally replenished in adult mammals. Unlike those of the mammalian ear, the progenitor cells of nonmammalian vertebrates can regenerate hair cells through- out life. The basis of this difference remains largely unexplored but may lie in molecular dissimilarities that affect how progenitors respond to hair-cell death. We analyzed gene expression in hair-cell progenitors of the lateral-line system. We developed a transgenic line of zebrafish called alpl:mCherry that expresses a red fluorescent protein in the presumptive hair-cell progenitors known as mantle cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting from the skins of transgenic larvae, followed by microarray-based expression analysis, revealed a constellation of transcripts that are specifically enriched in these cells versus hair cells and non-fluorescent skin cells. Gene expression analysis after hair-cell ablation uncovered a cohort of genes that are differentially regulated early in regeneration, suggesting possible roles in the response of progen- itors to hair-cell death. These results provide a resource for studying hair-cell regeneration and the biology of sensory progenitor cells. Two sets of analyses were performed. The first compared baseline expression levels in four sorted cell types from two different transgenic lines of zebrafish, alpl:mCherry;pou4f3:GFP and alpl:mCherry:ET20. alpl:mCherry;pou4f3:GFP larvae express GFP in hair cells and mCherry in mantle cells. alpl:mCherry:ET20 larvae express GFP in most mantle cells and mChery in all mantle cells. The four cell types compared were GFP+ hair cells, mCherry+ mantle cells, mCherry+/GFP+ mantle cells from alpl:mCherry:ET20 larvae, and non-fluorescent (NF) cells. Two hair-cell, five mCherry+ mantle cell, four mCherry+/GFP+ mantle cell, and six NF cell samples were analyzed. This excludes a few samples that were discardced based on failure to cluster by principal component analysis. A second analysis, separately imported, compared gene expression in mCherry+ mantle cells and NF cells at four time points following chemical ablation of hair cells with copper sulfate. These were one, three, five, and eleven hours after treatment (hpCu). Untreated samples served as controls. For mCherry+ cells, five untreated and four each of 1 hpCu, 3 hpCu, 5 hpCu and 11 hpCu were analyzed. For NF cells, six untreated, seven 1 hpCu, and four each of 3 hpCu, 5 hpCu and 11 hpCu samples were analyzed. Untreated mCherry+ and NF cells were shared between both analyses.

Dataset Information

Gene-expression analysis of hair cell regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line.

Publications

Gene-expression analysis of hair cell regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets