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Using zebrafish as a model organism to understand the impact of maternal zinc status on embryonic zinc homeostasis during development

Zinc is a micronutrient important in several biological processes including growth and development. Previous studies suggest that zinc deficiency during pregnancy causes adverse effects in the offspring that can persist even in the presence of adequate postnatal zinc. We have limited knowledge on the impact of maternal zinc deficiency on zinc and zinc regulatory mechanisms in the developing embryo due to a lack of in vivo experimental models that allow us to directly study the effects of maternal zinc on embryonic development following implantation. To overcome this barrier, we developed a model using zebrafish to examine the impact of maternal zinc deficiency during development. A purified zebrafish diet was developed and tested for zinc deficiency. After 12wks, adult fish were spawned and the embryos obtained collected to examine the developmental consequences of zinc deficiency. In the zinc deficient fish, abnormalities such as pericardial edema, yolk sac edema, pigmentation, lower response to stimuli and deformed body axis were observed. We also saw decreased embryonic zinc levels and differential expression of several zinc transporters across development. These results suggest that zebrafish is an effective model organism to study the effects of zinc deficiency and further investigation is underway to identify possible molecular pathways that are dysregulated with maternal zinc deficiency.