Emerging applications of zebrafish as a model organism to study oxidative mechanisms and their role in inflammation and vascular accumulation of oxidized lipids

摘要

With the advent of genetic engineering, zebrafish (Danio rerio) were recognized as an attractive model organism to study many biological processes. Remarkably, the small size and optical transparency of zebrafish larvae enable high-resolution imaging of live animals. Zebrafish respond to various environmental and pathological factors with robust oxidative stress. In this article, we provide an overview of molecular mechanisms involved in oxidative stress and antioxidant response in zebrafish. Existing applications of generically-encoded fluorescent sensors allow imaging, in real time, production of H2O2 and studying its involvement in inflammatory responses, as well as activation of oxidation-sensitive transcription factors HIF and NRF2. Oxidative stress, combined with hypelipidemia, leads to oxidation of lipoproteins, the process that contributes significantly to development of human atherosclerosis. Recent work found that feeding zebrafish a high-cholesterol diet results in hypercholesterolemia, vascular lipid accumulation and extreme lipoprotein oxidation. Generation of a transgenic zebrafish expressing a GFP-tagged human antibody to malondialdehyde (MDA)-modified LDL makes possible in vivo visualization of MDA epitopes in the vascular wall and testing the efficacy of antioxidants and dietary interventions. Thus, using zebrafish as a model organism provides important advantages in studying the role of ROS and lipid oxidation in basic biologic and pathologic processes.