Effects of Ethanol on Neuron Development

The goal of this study was to determine if ethanol treatment had an effect on neuron migration in Tg(tbx16: GFP) and Tg(isl1:GFP) transgenic fish. These transgenic fish both produce green-fluorescent makers that provide us with the ability to see the neurons. As neuron migration can vary based on ethanol concentration, time point, and length of treatment it was found that the outcome can vary. It was previously found that ethanol does influence Tg(isl1:GFP) facial branchial motor neuron migration (FBMN’s) (Buckely et al. 2019). To further examine these results, we used the laser confocal microscopy to determine whether the FBMN’s migration was affected on 0%, 1% and 2% ethanol treated embryos. The effects of ethanol on neurons located in the spinal cord have not been well elucidated. Using the confocal microscope to observe the Tg(tbx16: GFP) transgenic fish to mark commissural neurons (CoPA) in the spinal cord, we examined how 0%, 1%, and 2% ethanol effects dendrite length, branching, and axon pathways