Neural Cell Marker mRNA Expression during Zebrafish Embryo Development

Science Center, Bent Corridor

Neurodevelopment can be described as the production of different brain cell types across time. Understanding when and how different cell types are formed normally is important for investigating alterations due to genetic and environmental factors. To define these details, we investigated the expression of mRNAs expressed in specific neural cell types in zebrafish embryos using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We bred adult fish, collected embryos at 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours post-fertilization, extracted total RNA samples, designed and validated gene-specific qPCR primers, and measured gene expression at these time points. We found differences in the expression patterns between cell markers over time. By defining patterns of neural cell marker expression, these results inform technical details of qPCR experiments on these genes and when to examine specific cell types in future experiments.