Zebrafish as a model organism for studying late diabetic complications

Research Question: In addition to high blood glucose levels, oxidative stress and reactive metabolites can lead to microvascular complications in diabetic patients. To better understand formation of late diabetic complications, we analyze the effects of hyperglycemia, methylglyoxal (MG) as a toxic dicarbonyl, and the knockdown of aldo-keto reductase (Akr), an enzyme of the polyol pathway, upregulated during hyperglycemia, in zebrafish. Methodology: Zebrafish (tg(fli:egfp)) embryos were incubated with glucose and MG and the MG degrading enzyme Glo1 was knocked down in a morpholino-based approach. Phenotypic analy…