Electrophoresis enables quantitative analysis of zebrafish immune response

Researchers have used gel electrophoresis to look into the effect of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) on the organs and fins of zebrafish through quantitative analysis of the immune response.

Scientists at Spain's Instituto Nacional Investigaciones Agrarias department of biotechnology, Instituto Investigaciones Marinas and Universidad Miguel Hernandez collaborated on the quantitative analysis of differentially expressed immune-linked gene transcripts.

They found two trends: firstly, following infection with VHSV, more transcripts in organs increased than in fins, while secondly, more transcripts in fins decreased than in the organs examined.

Organs inspected included the head, kidney, liver and spleen, with the findings potentially providing indicators for future research into vaccines for VHSV.

The results are published in BMC Genomics, which recently carried a study on how food levels help fish to fare well in the natural environment.

Starved fish are far less able to produce an immune response than their well-fed counterparts, studies of Atlantic salmon revealed.