Overexpression of Wld(S) or Nmnat2 in mauthner cells by single-cell electroporation delays axon degeneration in live zebrafish.

Axon degeneration is supposed to be a therapeutic target for treating neurodegenerative diseases. Mauthner cells (M-cells) are ideal for studying axons in vivo because of their limited numbers, large size, and long axons. In this study, we labeled M-cells by single-cell electroporation with plasmids expressing DsRed2 or EGFP. Injury-induced axon degeneration in labeled M-cell was imaged under a confocal microscope, and we found that the Mauthner axons started to degenerate about 24 hr after lesion. The Wld(S) protein containing full-length Nmnat1 is well-known for its axon-protective function in many systems. Overexpression of Wld(S) in M-cells also greatly delayed axon degeneration in live zebrafish. Nmnat2 is the only Nmnat highly expressed in brain. Here we demonstrated that overexpression of Nmnat2 in M-cells significantly delayed axon degeneration in vivo, and disruption of the NAD synthesis activity of Nmnat2 markedly attenuated its axon-protective function. All these data show that injury-induced axon degeneration of M-cell has a mechanism similar to that in mammalians and would be a valuable model for studying axon degeneration in vivo.