© 2006 the European Respiratory Society The molecular controls of resolution of inflammation: what can we learn from zebrafish?* Academic Unit of Respiratory Medicine, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom # Centre for Biomedical and Developmental Genetics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom CORRESPONDENCE: Stephen A. Renshaw, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
We have established a model of inflammation in the zebrafish tail, in which caspase dependent cell death is required for resolution. For example, addition of the pan-caspase inhibitor zVD added at 4 hours after tailfin injury increases the number of neutrophils present from 6.0+/1.0 to 28.9+/ 3.3 (mean +/ s.e.m. p<0.001 n = 3).
The transparency of the larvae makes these an ideal model for the study of in vivo inflammation, and we have generated fluorescent systems for the easy visualisation of neutrophilic inflammation and resolution in vivo.
We are also performing an unbiased forward genetic screen for mutants with defective resolution of inflammation, and to date have identified 38 putative mutants. These techniques allow new approaches to understanding the molecular controls of inflammation resolution.
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