An Investigation on the Toxicity of Aluminum in Zebrafish

1
An Investigation on the Toxicity of Aluminum in
Zebrafish

• Carly Dougher
• Beckman Lab
• Linus Pauling Institute
• September 25, 2008

2
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

• Effects 2 per every 100,000 individuals
  (globally)
• Each year approximately 5,600 Americans are
  diagnosed with ALS.
• At any given time, 30,000 Americans may have the
  disease
• Approximately 10 familial

3
Gulf-War Illness (GWI)

• ALS component
• Wide range of symptoms

• Late onset
• 29 of deployed troops
• Cause unknown

4
Anthrax Vaccine (AVA)

• Administered to protect against biological
  warfare.
• Highly controversial.
• High aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3) content.

5
Zebrafish as a Model
6
The BIG Picture

• Exploration of neurodegenerative pathways.
• Alzheimers Disease (AD)
• Parkinsons Disease (PD)
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

7
Hypothesis

• Zebrafish injected with comparable amounts of
  aluminum to that found in the human anthrax
  vaccine, will exhibit signs of motor neuron
  degeneration.

8
Methods
1X 1.186 x 10-5 mg Al / g fish Injected
twice Injections were two days apart.
9
Fish Injection Procedure
10
Results
11
Mice Injected with Aluminum
Petrik et al, NeuroMolecular
12
Significance

• Effects of aluminum on neurological systems as
  applied to biomedical applications.
• Factors leading to neurodegenerationworking
  towards understanding the pathway.
• Enhance the zebrafish model as a model for other
  neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS.

13
Acknowledgements

• Dr. Joe Beckman
• Megan Hirko
• Dr. Mark Levy
• Dr. Kari Trumbull
• Nathan Lopez
• Tim Rhoads
• Keith Nylin

• Kevin Ahern
• Tamara Fraley
• Eric Johnson
• Dr. Robert Tanguay
• Tanguay Lab
• Department of
• Biochemistry and Biophysics

14
Questions?