Fishing for Nature’s Hits: Establishment of the Zebrafish as a Model for Screening Antidiabetic Natural Products

Figure 3

(a) Schematic diagram for zebrafish-based screening of compounds that promote beta cell regeneration. Transgenic fish expressing GFP in the beta cells (ins:H2BGFP) were bred with transgenic fish that express nitroreductase specifically in their beta cells Tg(ins:CFP-NTR). Beta cells were ablated using MTZ treatment from 50 to 80 hpf. At 80 hpf, Tg(ins:H2BGFP); Tg(ins:CFP-NTR) larvae were treated with the compounds for 48 h. The numbers of Tg(ins:H2BGFP) + beta cells were counted at 128 hpf. (b) Microscopic images of Tg(ins:H2BGFP) + beta cells in 128 hpf larvae treated with 1 μM retinoic acid, 10 μM trazodone, or 10 μM prednisolone dissolved in 1% DMSO. (c) Quantification of beta cell regeneration per larva at 128 hpf, following treatment with hit compounds from 80 to 128 hpf. Error bars represent SEM. compared to DMSO treated controls. Image reproduced from [71], under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

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