# Development and molecular phenotypes of zebrafish astrocytes

> **NIH NIH R21** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $423,500

## Abstract

Astrocytes are the major glial cell type in the human brain and are critical for central nervous system (CNS)
development and function. Astrocyte dysfunction has been implicated in human neurodevelopmental and
psychiatric diseases. Given the important roles astrocytes play in CNS development and health, it is surprising
that little is known about the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern astrocyte maturation and their
functional interactions with neighboring cells. One caveat for currently available model systems is the inability
to manipulate and observe astrocyte development and dynamic changes in living, intact animals. Transparent
zebrafish larvae would be ideally suited for such studies, but bone fide astrocytes have not been described in
this system to date. Here, we aim to exploit the optical transparency of zebrafish larvae together with molecular
and genetic approaches to characterize a new glial cell type in zebrafish that features key hallmarks of
mammalian astrocytes. We have identified a previously unreported cell type in zebrafish CNS with several
defining characteristics of mammalian astrocytes, such as intricate bushy morphology, glutamate transporter
expression, and spontaneous microdomain Ca2+ transients. In this proposal, we will: 1) fully characterize the
development and function of astrocytes in zebrafish; 2) develop a cell-specific CRISPR/Cas9 method to study
astrocyte biology in vivo. We expect our work will establish zebrafish as a new model system to explore
astrocyte development and function, provide new insights into the molecular and cellular mechanisms
regulating astrocyte development and growth, and lay the foundation to study astrocyte function in the context
of the entire nervous system in an intact and behaving animal.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9916366
- **Project number:** 1R21NS115437-01
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly R Monk
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $423,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2019-12-01 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9916366

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9916366, Development and molecular phenotypes of zebrafish astrocytes (1R21NS115437-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9916366. Licensed CC0.

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