Ultra-High Field Magnetic Resonance Microimaging in Zebrafish Model of Cystic Leukoencephalopathy

Alia Alia¹, Haud Nomie², Firat Kara¹, Adam Hurlstone²

Zebrafish is increasingly used as model organism for understanding various brain diseases including neurodegenerative disorders. Very recently the first zebrafish model for Cystic Leukoencephalopathy has been developed in which RNASET2 gene has been mutated. In this study we applied high resolution MRI to visualize neurodegeneration in RNASET2 deficient zebrafish. T2-weighted MR imaging showed that RNASET2 deficient zebrafish exhibit frequent white matter anomalies which were scattered throughout the brain. T2 relaxation measurements suggest that theses lesions may be filled with CSF. Our results suggest that zebrafish model of Cystic Leukoencephalopathy develops similar lesions as found in human patients and show that MRI can be successfully used to visualize neurodegeneration in zebrafish.