Brugia Malayi - Clark Science Center - Smith College

Radial Glia Vital for the Proliferation of Glia and Neural Populations in
the Zebrafish Neural Tube
Deborah Ok
Radial glia are neural stem cells that grow into other types of glia and neurons in the lumen of the neural tube. To better
understand how important radial glia are for the maintenance of the nervous system, we preformed a study on zebrafish with
mitotically inhibited radial glia. We collected data on how much cell death occurred over the cause of development among radial
glia as well as different glia populations such as oligodendrocyte precursor cells. We also wanted to know if the radial glia were
accumulating in the lumen over time or dying off. We used a mutant zebrafish line with a knock down of eg5 (3112a). Eg5 is a
protein essential for the mitosis of radial glia and STLC treated embryos which imitate the mutants’ phenotype inhibit radial glia
from dividing into other cells. Heterozygous embryos do not express the effects of the eg5 protein were used as the control. This
study of neural stem cells and their targeted inhibition can further our understanding of their role in the nervous system and
contribute to regenerative medicine and cancer studies. (Supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
Advisor: Michael Barresi
2012
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