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Title: | CHARACTERIZATION OF SURVIVAL MOTOR NEURON DYNAMICS BY FLUORESCENCE CORRELATION SPECTROSCOPY AND NEUREXIN2A FUNCTION IN A ZEBRAFISH MODEL FOR SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY | Authors: | ANGELA KOH PHEI SAN | Keywords: | spinal muscular atrophy, survival motor neuron, neurexin2a, zebrafish, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy | Issue Date: | 4-Aug-2017 | Citation: | ANGELA KOH PHEI SAN (2017-08-04). CHARACTERIZATION OF SURVIVAL MOTOR NEURON DYNAMICS BY FLUORESCENCE CORRELATION SPECTROSCOPY AND NEUREXIN2A FUNCTION IN A ZEBRAFISH MODEL FOR SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. | Abstract: | Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, affecting lower motor neurons and caused by mutations in the Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) gene. I used fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to study the dynamics of SMN protein in zebrafish embryos in vivo. In motor neurons, SMN was found to exist in a freely diffusing particle and a complex-bound form. Previously, our lab identified neurexin2a (nrxn2a) as novel target for SMA. To study the long-term effects of a nrxn2a deficiency, I generated nrxn2a knockout zebrafish and observed defective motor axons in maternal-zygotic nrxn2a mutants consistent with the phenotype described in SMN morphants. Adult mutants also displayed symptoms of muscular atrophy. Interestingly, adult zygotic mutants showed increased anxiety and lower aggressiveness in behavioral tests. My findings suggest that nrxn2a is important for synapse formation at the neuromuscular junction. The generated nrxn2a mutant is a suitable anxiety model for future drug screening. | URI: | http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/138681 |
Appears in Collections: | Ph.D Theses (Open) |
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