Status epilepticus during neurodevelopment increases seizure susceptibility: a model study in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Mazon, S. C.; Mendes, E. J.; Sachett, A.; Bertoncello, K. T.; Marsaro, I. B.; Daniel, C. F.; Barros de Miranda, F.; Appel Hort, M.; Oliveira, J. V.; Piato, A.; Alves Lima-Rezende, C.; Herrmann, A. P.; Girardi Muller, L.; Siebel, A. M.

doi:10.1101/2023.12.20.572588

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.12.20.572588

Status epilepticus during neurodevelopment increases seizure susceptibility: a model study in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Mazon, S. C.·Mendes, E. J.·Sachett, A.·Bertoncello, K. T.·Marsaro, I. B.·Daniel, C. F.·Barros de Miranda, F.·Appel Hort, M.·Oliveira, J. V.·Piato, A.·Alves Lima-Rezende, C.·Herrmann, A. P.·Girardi Muller, L.·Siebel, A. M.

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Epilepsy is among the most common neurological diseases, affecting more than 50 million people worldwide. Unfortunately, one-third of people with epilepsy fail to respond to any current treatment and present a decreased quality of life. Nevertheless, different studies suggest that epilepsies acquired from an initial insult as status epilepticus (SE) followed by epileptogenesis can be prevented. Therefore, it is necessary to establish animal models of epileptogenesis induced by SE. Thus, here we proposed an animal model of epileptogenesis triggered by SE that occurred during the neurodevelopment of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Zebrafish larvae at the 7th day post-fertilization (dpf) were randomly assigned to two experimental groups. One group was exposed to embryo medium. The other group was exposed to pentylenetetrazol (15 mM PTZ) to induce SE. At the 8th dpf, each larva was subjected to the open tank test (OTT) to analyze locomotion and behavioral parameters. After the OTT, each initial group was divided into two groups: animals maintained in embryo medium and animals exposed to PTZ (3 mM), and the susceptibility to PTZ-induced seizure-like behavior was analyzed. Data showed that animals submitted to SE on the 7th dpf showed altered locomotion and behavior 24 hours later. Interestingly, zebrafish larvae submitted to SE on the 7th dpf showed decreased latency to reach seizure-like behavioral stages when exposed to a low concentration of PTZ on the 8th dpf. Concluding, our results show that SE during neurodevelopment increases the susceptibility of zebrafish larvae to present PTZ-induced seizure-like behavior. Our study contributes to the establishment of a model of epileptogenesis in developing zebrafish. Finally, the next step is to improve this model by characterizing molecular, biochemical and physiological markers.

Explore related subjects

neuroscience Preprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Mazon, S. C., Mendes, E. J., Sachett, A., Bertoncello, K. T., Marsaro, I. B., Daniel, C. F., Barros de Miranda, F., Appel Hort, M., Oliveira, J. V., Piato, A., Alves Lima-Rezende, C., Herrmann, A. P., Girardi Muller, L., Siebel, A. M.. 2023-12-21. Status epilepticus during neurodevelopment increases seizure susceptibility: a model study in zebrafish (Danio rerio). https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.20.572588

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Cell Types in Describing Neuronal Physiological Features

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) captures detailed gene expression profiles at scale, while patch-clamp recordings measure intrinsic neuronal electrophysiological properties. Modeling the relations between these two modalities remains a challenge. Here, we compare how well electrophysiological features can be predicted by traditional transcriptomic cell type classification, representations derived from a foundational model (scGPT) pretrained on large-scale scRNA-seq datasets, ion channel-coding genes, and highly variable genes. Using paired transcriptomic and electrophysiological patch-sequencing data from 495 human neurons from neurosurgical tissue, we find that cluster-level cell type representations consistently outperform highly variable gene selection, ion channel gene selection, and context-enriched scGPT embeddings. Notably, performance varies across model architectures and initializations, and the best results are obtained by combining the outputs of separate cell type and scGPT-based models. Together, these findings suggest that traditional discrete cellular classification is highly effective in predicting physiological features. For maximum performance it can be complemented by pretrained transformer models.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

A nonlinear inhibition pathway underlying cortical responses to tuned holographic optogenetic perturbations

Optogenetics enables causal manipulation of cortical activity. Perturbation responses can be counterintuitive due to network interactions, making theory essential for predicting them. Existing approaches often rely on linear approximations, which fail for many biologically relevant perturbations. Here we develop a nonlinear theory of responses to holographic perturbations in cell-type-specific recurrent networks with structured connectivity. We fit a nonlinear model to mouse V1 data, which shows cotuned-ensemble suppression: perturbing spatially clustered neurons with similar preferred orientations yields markedly stronger short-range suppression than perturbing untuned ensembles. We show that cotuned-ensemble suppression arises from a feature-tuned, nonlinear inhibition pathway implicating somatostatin-positive (SST) interneurons. The theory predicts that cotuned ensembles suppress parvalbumin-positive (PV) neurons but facilitate SST neurons, and links the degree of cotuned-ensemble suppression or facilitation to the variance of the SST response. This framework identifies mechanisms by which nonlinear inhibition sculpts cortical dynamics and establishes a predictive basis for targeted optogenetic interventions.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Proteomic signatures of APOE ε4 across human tissues and cell types in Alzheimers disease

The apolipoprotein E {varepsilon}4 (APOE {varepsilon}4) allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimers disease (AD). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study included 1691 participants from the Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP), 1226 participants from the Accelerating Medicines Partnership - Alzheimers Disease (AMP-AD) Diverse Cohorts Study, and 735 participants from the Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). To characterise APOE {varepsilon}4 molecular effects, we analysed proteomic data from plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived astrocytes and neurons, as well as transcriptomic and proteomic data from multiple brain regions. The association of APOE {varepsilon}4 with AD neuropathology was also examined. APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers shared a plasma proteomic signature enriched for immune processes, irrespective of AD diagnosis. A machine learning classifier trained on this signature discriminated APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers from non-carriers in an independent cohort using CSF proteomics. APOE {varepsilon}4 carriage was associated with higher Braak stages and Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimers Disease (CERAD) score. However, only limited APOE {varepsilon}4-associated transcriptomic and proteomic changes were observed in bulk brain tissue, with poor cross-layer concordance. Proteomic analyses of iPSC-derived astrocytes and neurons further revealed cell-type-specific APOE {varepsilon}4-associated changes. APOE {varepsilon}4 is associated with a consistent proteomic signature across plasma and CSF. Its molecular effects in the brain differ across cell types, brain regions and molecular layers. These findings support the need for cell-type-resolved multi-omic studies to elucidate how APOE {varepsilon}4 confers AD risk.

neuroscience↗