Neuronal morphology in zebrafish

The structure of nerve cells is critical to their function as this structure determines how they connect to other nerve cells to form the circuits in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for behavior.

In larval zebrafish, we can image the structure of the nerve cells in the intact living animal by labeling the nerve cells with fluorescent dyes by injection into the cells, or by making transgenic fish in which we introduce genes that lead to expression of fluorescent molecules in particular nerve cells.

Imaging with modern optical techniques, such as confocal microscopy, allows us to collect images of sections through the fish while it is intact and alive. A sequence of these images is shown on the left. These can be reconstructed to form a three dimensional picture of the nerve cell shown on the right - in this case a genetically labeled motoneuron filled with fluorescent protein.

By reconstructing the anatomy of nerve cells, we can understand how they wire together to form the circuits responsible for movements.