Tracking single cells in zebrafish brain

Shan Zhao; Yu Qian; Yu Mu

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109086

Tracking single cells in zebrafish brain

J Neurosci Methods. 2021 Apr 1:353:109086. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109086. Epub 2021 Jan 25.

Authors

Shan Zhao¹, Yu Qian¹, Yu Mu²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai, 200031, China.
² Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai, 200031, China. Electronic address: my@ion.ac.cn.

PMID: 33508409
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109086

Abstract

Changes in cell locations and morphologies shape the brain. Tracking single cells over time is a vital step to study these changes, but densely arranged brain cells impede such observation. Larval zebrafish has become a popular model animal for single-cell tracking, owing to its small, transparent brain and easy genetic manipulation. In this article, we review recent single-cell tracking studies on neurons and non-neuronal cells in the larval zebrafish brain, including soma migration, process refinement, and interactions among cell types. These findings yield new insights regarding how the translocation and morphological changes of individual cells determine brain function.

Keywords: Development; Fluorescent imaging; Morphology; Single-cell tracking; Whole-brain imaging; Zebrafish.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain*
Larva
Neurons
Zebrafish*