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Many contemporary neuroscience experiments utilize high-throughput approaches to simultaneously collect behavioural data from many animals. The resulting data are often complex in structure and are subjected to systematic biases, which require new approaches for analysis and normalization. This study addressed the normalization need by establishing an approach based on linear-regression modeling. The model was established using a dataset of visual motor response (VMR) obtained from several strains of wild-type (WT) zebrafish collected at multiple stages of development. The VMR is a locomotor response triggered by drastic light change, and is commonly measured repeatedly from multiple larvae arrayed in 96-well plates. This assay is subjected to several systematic variations. For example, the light emitted by the machine varies slightly from well to well. In addition to the light-intensity variation, biological replication also created batch-batch variation. These systematic variations may result in differences in the VMR and must be normalized. Our normalization approach explicitly modeled the effect of these systematic variations on VMR. It also normalized the activity profiles of different conditions to a common baseline. Our approach is versatile, as it can incorporate different normalization needs as separate factors. The versatility was demonstrated by an integrated normalization of three factors: light-intensity variation, batch-batch variation and baseline. After normalization, new biological insights were revealed from the data. For example, we found larvae of TL strain at 6 days post-fertilization (dpf) responded to light onset much stronger than the 9-dpf larvae, whereas previous analysis without normalization shows that their responses were relatively comparable. By removing systematic variations, our model-based normalization can facilitate downstream statistical comparisons and aid detecting true biological differences in high-throughput studies of neurobehaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) is a receptor for chemokines and a co-receptor for HIV-1 entry into the target CD4+ cells. CCR5 delta 32 deletion is a loss-of-function mutation, resistant to HIV-1 infection. We tried to induce the CCR5 delta 32 mutation harnessing the genome editing technique, CRISPR-Cas9 (lustered egularly nterspaced hort alindromic epeats, CRISPR and RISPR sociated protein 9, Cas9) in the commonly used cell line uman mbryonic idney HEK 293T cells. Surprisingly, we found that HEK293T cells are heterozygous for CCR5 delta 32 mutation, in contrast to the wild type CCR5 cells, human acute T cell leukemia cell line Jurkat and human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MDA-MB-231 cells. This finding indicates that at least one human cell line is heterozygous for the CCR5 delta 32 mutation. We also found that in PCR amplification, wild type CCR5 DNA and mutant delta 32 DNA can form mismatched heteroduplex and move slowly in gel electrophoresis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal degeneration is often progressive. This feature has provided a therapeutic window for intervention that may extend functional vision in patients. Even though this approach is feasible, few promising drug candidates are available. The scarcity of new drugs has motivated research to discover novel compounds through different sources. One such example is Schisandrin B (SchB), an active component isolated from the five-flavor fruit (Fructus Schisandrae) that is postulated in traditional Chinese medicines to exert prophylactic visual benefit. This SchB benefit was investigated in this study in pde6cw59, a zebrafish retinal-degeneration model. In this model, the pde6c gene (phosphodiesterase 6C, cGMP-specific, cone, alpha prime) carried a mutation which caused cone degeneration. This altered the local environment and caused the bystander rods to degenerate too. To test SchB on the pde6cw59 mutants, a treatment concentration was first determined that would not cause morphological defects, and would initiate known physiological response. Then, the mutants were treated with the optimized SchB concentration before the appearance of retinal degeneration at 3 days postfertilization (dpf). The light sensation of animals was evaluated at 6 dpf by the visual motor response (VMR), a visual startle that could be initiated by drastic light onset and offset. The results show that the VMR of pde6cw59 mutants towards light onset was enhanced by the SchB treatment, and that the initial phase of the enhancement was primarily mediated through the mutants’ eyes. Further immunostaining analysis indicates that the treatment specifically reduced the size of the abnormally large rods. These observations implicate an interesting hypothesis: that the morphologically-improved rods drive the observed VMR enhancement. Together, these investigations have identified a possible visual benefit of SchB on retinal degeneration, a benefit that can potentially be further developed to extend functional vision in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]