title: Evaluation of the Hair Cell Regeneration in Zebrafish Larvae by Measuring and Quantifying the Startle Responses.
abstract: The zebrafish has become an established model organism for the study of hearing and balance systems in the past two decades. The classical approach to examine hair cells is to use dye to conduct selective staining, which shows the number and morphology of hair cells but does not reveal their function. Startle response is a behavior closely related to the auditory function of hair cells; therefore it can be used to measure the function of hair cells. In this study, we developed a device to measure the startle response of zebrafish larvae. By applying various levels of stimulus, it showed that the system can discern a 10 dB difference. The hair cell in zebrafish can regenerate after damage due to noise exposure or drug treatment. With this device, we measured the startle response of zebrafish larvae during and after drug treatment. The results show a similar trend to the classical hair cell staining method. The startle response was reduced with drug treatment and recovered after removal of the drug. Together it demonstrated the capability of this behavioral assay in evaluating the hair cell functions of fish larvae and its potential as a high-throughput screening tool for auditory-related gene and drug discovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Changquan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Zhenmin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Hanbing
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9597-135X
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Research Service, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, Loma Linda, CA 92357, USA; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA.
authors.forename: Hongzhe
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0207-5367
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Fangyi
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9553-9102
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D006199:Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D007814:Larva; D009355:Neomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects; D012038:Regeneration; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D009355:Neomycin