Behavioral Characterization of an Early Life Seizure (ELS) Model Using Danio rerio
Trinidad Arceo, Katie Guzman-Pacheco, Lindy Nguyen
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: Nicholas J. Silva
Seizure activity is characterized by an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neuronal signaling. Early life seizures (ELS) in vertebrate models result in the development of epilepsy later in adulthood. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent, unprovoked abnormal electrical activity in the brain, with approximately one-third of patients not responding to current treatments. The goal of this study was to validate and characterize seizure behavior using the established pharmacological agent pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) to induce ELS in Danio rerio (zebrafish) larvae. PTZ is a GABA receptor antagonist shown to induce seizures in mice and zebrafish. We first quantified the survival rate in controls and ELS fish and found that the survival rate was greater in the controls versus the ELS group. We tracked seizure behaviors including locomotion, velocity, and high-speed movement using the DanioVision system at 7, 14, and 21 days post fertilization (dpf) and observed an increase in all parameters in the ELS group compared to controls. Our results indicate that zebrafish are a valid model to study ELS and provide the foundation for future work to study the contributions of neuroimmune mechanisms.