Zebrafish were innately reluctant or prone to explore colored novel objects, so drug effects on innate preference for objects can be evaluated changing the color of objects with a simple geometry. Zebrafish exhibited recognition memory for novel objects with similar innate significance. Interestingly, nicotine and PhB significantly modified innate object preference.

The adult zebrafish is considered a useful model for studying mechanisms involved in tissue growth and regeneration. We have characterized cytotoxic damage to the retina of adult zebrafish caused by the injection of cobalt chloride (CoCl ) into the vitreous cavity. The CoCl concentration we used primarily caused injury to photoreceptors. We observed the complete disappearance of cones, followed by rods, across the retina surface from 28 to 96 hr after CoCl injury. The loss of 30% of bipolar cells was also observed by 50 hr after lesion (hpl). CoCl injury provoked a strong induction of the proliferative activity of multipotent Müller glia and derived progenitors. The effect of CoCl on retina cells was significantly reduced by treatment with glutamate ionotropic receptor antagonists. Cone photoreceptor regeneration occurred 25 days after injury. Moreover, a single dose of CoCl induced vascular damage and regeneration, whereas three injections of CoCl administered weekly provoked neovascular-like changes 20 days after injury. CoCl injury also caused microglial reactivity in the optic disc, retina periphery and fibre layer. CoCl -induced damage enhanced pluripotency and proneural transcription factor gene expression in the mature retina 72 hpl. Tumour necrosis factor alpha, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor mRNA levels were also significantly enhanced by 72 hpl. The injury paradigm we have described in this work may be useful for the discovery of signalling molecules and pathways that participate in the regenerative response and it may serve as a model to screen for compounds that could potentially treat aberrant angiogenesis.

Damage in fish activates retina repair that restores sight. The purinergic signalling system serves multiple homeostatic functions and has been implicated in cell cycle control of progenitor cells in the developing retina. We examined whether changes in the expression of purinergic molecules were instrumental in the proliferative phase after injury of adult zebrafish retinas with ouabain. P2RY messenger RNA (mRNA) increased early after injury and showed maximal levels at the time of peak progenitor cell proliferation. Extracellular nucleotides, mainly ADP, regulate P2RY transcriptional and protein expression. The injury-induced upregulation of P2RY is mediated by an autoregulated mechanism. After injury, the transcriptional expression of ecto-nucleotidases and ecto-ATPases also increased and ecto-ATPase activity inhibitors decreased Müller glia-derived progenitor cell amplification. Inhibition of P2RY endogenous activation prevented progenitor cell proliferation at two intervals after injury: one in which progenitor Müller glia mitotically activates and the second one in which Müller glia-derived progenitor cells amplify. ADPβS induced the expression of lin28a and ascl1a genes in mature regions of uninjured retinas. The expression of these genes, which regulate multipotent Müller glia reprogramming, was significantly inhibited by blocking the endogenous activation of P2RY early after injury. We consistently observed that the number of glial fibrillary acidic protein-BrdU-positive Müller cells after injury was larger in the absence than in the presence of the P2RY antagonist. Ecto-ATPase activity inhibitors or P2RY-specific antagonists did not modify apoptotic cell death at the time of peak progenitor cell proliferation. The results suggested that ouabain injury upregulates specific purinergic signals which stimulates multipotent progenitor cell response.

Injured retinas in mammals do not regenerate and heal with loss of function. The adult retina of zebrafish self-repairs after damage by activating cell-intrinsic mechanisms, which are regulated by extrinsic signal interactions. Among relevant regulatory extrinsic systems, purinergic signalling regulates progenitor proliferation during retinogenesis and regeneration and glia proliferation in proliferative retinopathies. ATP-activated P2X7 (P2RX7) and adenosine (P1R) receptors are involved in the progression of almost all retinopathies leading to blindness. Here, we examined P2RX7 and P1R participation in the retina regenerative response induced by photoreceptor damage caused by a specific dose of CoCl2. First, we found that treatment of uninjured retinas with a potent agonist of P2RX7 (BzATP) provoked photoreceptor damage and mitotic activation of multipotent progenitors. In CoCl2-injured retinas, blockade of endogenous extracellular ATP activity on P2RX7 caused further neurodegeneration, Müller cell gliosis, progenitor proliferation and microglia reactivity. P2RX7 inhibition in injured retinas also increased the expression of lin28a and tnfα genes, which are related to multipotent progenitor proliferation. Levels of hif1α, vegf3r and vegfaa mRNA were enhanced by blockade of P2RX7 immediately after injury, indicating hypoxic like damage and endothelial cell growth and proliferation. Complete depletion of extracellular nucleotides with an apyrase treatment strongly potentiated cell death and progenitor proliferation induced with CoCl2.Blockade of adenosine P1 and A2A receptors (A2AR) had deleterious effects and deregulated normal timing for progenitor and precursor cell proliferation following photoreceptor damage. ATP via