Project description:Gene expression of mouse cells was studied by extracting total RNA from cultured mouse mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and zebrafish injected with mouse MSCs, in addition the host response was studied by hybridizing the zebrafish RNA to zebrafish arrays. Two-condition experiment, low passage MSCs vs high passage MSCs and tumorigenic MSCs, in vitro and inside zebrafish embryos.
Project description:Gene expression of mouse cells was studied by extracting total RNA from cultured mouse mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and zebrafish injected with mouse MSCs, in addition the host response was studied by hybridizing the zebrafish RNA to zebrafish arrays.
Project description:Neurogenesis is limited in mammalian brains and Alzheimer’s disease conditions further reduce the neurogenic output. Recent findings suggest that reduced neurogenesis could be one of the reasons underlying the exacerbated neuropathology in humans, and restoring the neural stem cell proliferation and neurogenesis could help circumventing some pathological aspects of Alzheimer’s disease. We recently identified Interleukin-4/STAT6 signaling as a neuron-glia crosstalk mechanism that enables glial proliferation and neurogenesis in adult zebrafish brain and 3D cultures of human astroglia, which manifest neurogenic properties. In this study, we tested whether activating IL4/STAT6 signaling in adult mouse astroglia would enhance cell proliferation and neurogenesis in health and disease conditions. By using single cell sequencing in APP/PS1dE9 mouse model of AD, we found that IL4 receptor (Il4r) is not expressed in mouse astroglia. Lentivirus-mediated expression of IL4R or constitutively active STAT6V impaired the survival capacity of mouse astroglia in vivo but not in vitro. Our findings suggest that adult mouse brain generates a non-permissive environment that dictates a negative effect of IL4 signaling on astroglial survival and neurogenic properties in contrast to zebrafish brains and in vitro mammalian cell cultures.
Project description:The purpose of this study is to obtain an "in vivo" confirmation that mesalazine induces the gene expression of μ-protocadherin and other related genes in the colon mucosa, as demonstrated in some "in vitro" experiments. .
Project description:We performed RNA-seq with dissected control and Lef1 mutant hypothalami from 3 days post-fertilization (3dpf) zebrafish, embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5) and postnatal day 22 (P22) mouse. We identified Lef1-dependent genes involved in an anxiolytic function in both species, but those genes are different between zebrafish and mouse.
Project description:Zebrafish are well suited for in vivo calcium imaging because the transparency of their larvae and the ability to express calcium probes in various cell subtypes. This model organism has been used extensively to study brain development, neuronal function, and network activity. However, only a few studies have investigated calcium homeostasis and signaling in zebrafish neurons, and little is known about the proteins that are involved in these processes. Using bioinformatics analysis and available databases, the present study identified 491 genes of the zebrafish Calcium Toolkit (CaTK). Using RNA-sequencing, we then evaluated the expression of these genes in the adult zebrafish brain and found 380 hits that belonged to the CaTK. Based on quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction arrays, we estimated the relative mRNA levels in the brain of CaTK genes at two developmental stages. In both 5 dpf larvae and adult zebrafish, the highest relative expression was observed for tmbim4, which encodes a Golgi membrane protein. The present data on CaTK genes will contribute to future applications of zebrafish as a model for in vivo and in vitro studies of Ca2+ signaling.
Project description:Purified endogenous mouse MIWI fails to cleave mismatched targets in vitro. Surprisingly, here we find using knock-in mouse models that piRNA target sites with cleavage-site mismatches are precisely sliced in vivo. This is identical to the slicing outcome in knock-in mice where targets are identified by perfect complementarity base-pairing with the piRNA. Additionally, we find that such pachytene piRNA-guided MIWI/MILI slicing in vivo failed to initiate phased piRNA production from the specific target mRNA we studied. Instead, the two slicer cleavage fragments were retained in PIWI proteins as a pre-piRNA and 17-19 nt by-product fragments. Our results indicate that PIWI slicing rules established in vitro are not respected in vivo, and that all targets of PIWI slicing are not substrates for piRNA biogenesis.