PUBLICATION
Ethanol down-regulates gastrula gene expression and cell movement, causing symptoms of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders
- Authors
- Alsakran, A.A., Gibson, B., Wong, H.Y., Heaton, C., Boreham, R., Minhas, R., Ball, J., Kudoh, T.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-250508-1
- Date
- 2025
- Source
- Biology Open : (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Kudoh, Tetsuhiro
- Keywords
- Zebrafish FASD ethanol alcohol ACQUIFER
- MeSH Terms
-
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders*/etiology
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders*/genetics
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders*/metabolism
- Zebrafish/embryology
- Animals, Genetically Modified
- Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
- Ethanol*/adverse effects
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*/drug effects
- Cell Movement*/drug effects
- Cell Movement*/genetics
- Disease Models, Animal
- Animals
- Gastrula*/drug effects
- Gastrula*/metabolism
- Embryonic Development/drug effects
- PubMed
- 40331622 Full text @ Biol. Open
Citation
Alsakran, A.A., Gibson, B., Wong, H.Y., Heaton, C., Boreham, R., Minhas, R., Ball, J., Kudoh, T. (2025) Ethanol down-regulates gastrula gene expression and cell movement, causing symptoms of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Biology Open. :.
Abstract
Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) occur in embryos when they are exposed to maternally supplied alcohol. To study the mechanisms of FASDs, the zebrafish embryo can serve as an excellent model as ethanol exposed zebrafish embryos exhibit common symptoms of human FASDs including microcephaly, incomplete neural plate closure, eye defects, craniofacial disorders and many other defects. Here we investigated the embryo development at gastrula stage when three germ layers develop with specific gene expressions and undergo dynamic cell movement including extension, convergence and epiboly, establishing the platform to form the head and body axis in the later development. Gastrula cell movement analyses using fluorescent transgenic zebrafish embryos revealed that ethanol induced dose dependent delay of extension, convergence and epiboly cell movement and associated gene expressions in all three germ layers. Our results suggest multiple targets of ethanol including gene expression and cell movement, consequently delay the key gene expression and cell localisation, causing irreversible developmental defects in the head and body axis formation.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping