“THERMAL NOCICEPTION STUDIES IN ZEBRAFISH”

2012

Background Nociception was defined by Sherrington as the mechanism used to sense painful events. Despite the value of current animal models for nociception and pain, we have not yet understood in full how these mechanisms operate. Aim Here we propose a novel approach using zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae in order to determine if the fish is suitable for the study of pain stimuli. Taking advantage of the fact that, in response to noxious stimuli, the expression of several genes in mammals is induced in neurons of the spinal cord and the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), we investigated if such mechanism is evolutionary conserved in the Zebrafish. Materials and Methods We cloned homologues of mammals…