Abstract
Genetic disorders account for a wide range of renal diseases emerging during childhood and adolescence. Due to the utilization of modern biochemical and biomedical techniques, the number of identified disease-associated genes is increasing rapidly. Modeling of congenital human disease in animals is key to our understanding of the biological mechanism underlying pathological processes and thus developing novel potential treatment options. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been established as a versatile small vertebrate organism that is widely used for studying human inherited diseases. Genetic accessibility in combination with elegant experimental methods in zebrafish permit modeling of human genetic diseases and dissecting the perturbation of underlying cellular networks and physiological processes. Beyond its utility for genetic analysis and pathophysiological and mechanistic studies, zebrafish embryos, and larvae are amenable for phenotypic screening approaches employing high-content and high-throughput experiments using automated microscopy. This includes large-scale chemical screening experiments using genetic models for searching for disease-modulating compounds. Phenotype-based approaches of drug discovery have been successfully performed in diverse zebrafish-based screening applications with various phenotypic readouts. As a result, these can lead to the identification of candidate substances that are further examined in preclinical and clinical trials. In this review, we discuss zebrafish models for inherited kidney disease as well as requirements and considerations for the technical realization of drug screening experiments in zebrafish.
Introduction
Modern genetic diagnostics allow the rapid discovery of human disease-associated mutations. Moreover, human genetic disorders can often be mimicked in animal models that can be exploited in large-scale chemical investigations for the search of modifiers of disease-associated phenotypes and potentially therapeutic compounds. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become an increasingly accepted vertebrate model organism for biomedical research (, ).
Despite being a member of the teleost class of fish species, there is great homology in development as well as cell- and organ-specific structural and physiological properties between zebrafish and humans. Furthermore, even with the evolutionary distance, > 80% of human disease-associated genes have orthologs in the zebrafish genome (). The embryonic and larval characteristics of zebrafish include small size, ex utero development, optical transparency, and rapidity of organogenesis. In combination with the high fecundity of adult zebrafish and a relatively simple and cost-effective animal husbandry, this enables large-scale in vivo investigations. The zebrafish genome has been completely sequenced, thus facilitating genetic and genomic analysis and manipulation (, ). For instance, reverse genetics allow for precise investigation of associated phenotypes, by e.g., transient gene knockdown using antisense morpholino oligos or by genome-editing technologies like the CRISPR/Cas9 system (, ).
Due to the simplicity of the pronephros that can be readily studied in embryonic and larval stages, the zebrafish is an applicable experimental model system for the analysis of renal development and disease (). The pronephros, as the earliest nephric stage, contains two nephrons sharing numerous genetic, structural, and functional aspects with the mammalian nephron (). Phenotypic changes upon genetic alterations can be easily analyzed within intact live animals (). Large-scale mutagenesis screens have identified various mutants affecting kidney development allowing the exploration of genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying pronephros development and function (, ). Moreover, reverse genetics approaches enable researchers to specifically alter orthologous genetic elements potentially associated with human disease. To date, major fields of research where such zebrafish models are being employed include glomerular (i.e., podocytopathies) and cystic renal disorders (i.e., ciliopathies).
Phenotype-based screening for drug discovery applications is increasingly employed in biomedical and pharmaceutical research. In contrast to target-based screening, phenotype-based approaches do not require exact knowledge of the therapeutic target (). In addition, whole-organism in vivo approaches have the advantage that they can unravel toxic and other side-effects of drugs at a very early stage of the study. Over the last years, due to the versatility and power of the model, the zebrafish has emerged as the main vertebrate model system for high-throughput and high-content chemical screening experiments and large-scale phenotypic scoring (, ). Clear and scalable readouts for in vivo large-scale experiments can be readily established and a plethora of mutant and transgenic models expressing fluorescent proteins driven by tissue-specific promoters is available. In combination with automation technologies and dedicated sample handling workflows, this has led to various biomedical screening assays in fields such as genetics (, ), toxicology (, ), immunology and infection biology (, ), cardiovascular research (, ), drug discovery and safety (, , , ), personalized medicine (), non-coding-genome analysis () as well as behavioral analysis (, ). Notably, several compounds that were identified in the zebrafish model have made it to preclinical and clinical trials, including new substance classes and repurposed drugs (). For instance, in a chemical genetic screen testing 2.480 compounds, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was identified as an evolutionarily conserved regulator of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) number in zebrafish embryos (). Based on these results, a chemical derivative of PGE2 (Prohema), has been developed with the aim of improving the efficiency of HSC transplants using umbilical cord blood. Prohema has meanwhile advanced to Phase II clinical trials.
Genetic kidney diseases in zebrafish
Genetic kidney diseases can affect all parts of the kidney and its functions. To date, mutations in more than 150 genes have been identified that cause genetic human kidney diseases such as alterations of kidney development or specific glomerular and tubular diseases (). Nephrogenesis in vertebrates is an intricate process that includes the successive formation of up to three kidneys depending on the species position in the phylogenetic tree: the pronephros, mesonephros, and metanephros (). There is an increasing complexity with each successive kidney developing, however the structure and function of the basic renal units, the nephrons, remains largely unvaried across vertebrates ().
In zebrafish, major vertebrate organ systems form within a few days after fertilization (). The zebrafish pronephros is functional by 48 hpf (hours post fertilization) accomplishing the functions of blood filtration and osmoregulation (, ). It consists of two nephrons with a fused glomerulus at the midline (Figure 1A) (). The tubular system consisting of the pronephric proximal and distal tubule and pronephric duct contains segment-specific conserved structural and physiological properties and spatio-temporal gene-expression patterns that are homologous to the human kidney (Figure 1B) (, , ). The zebrafish glomerulus is endowed with podocytes with extended and interdigitating foot processes and fenestrated endothelial cells forming a functional glomerular filtration barrier, analogous to the metanephric glomerulus of higher vertebrates ().
Figure 1
At present, zebrafish is predominantly used as a genetic model for normal and abnormal kidney development, for hereditary glomerulopathies (i.e., podocytopathies) and for the study of ciliopathy-associated human cystic kidney diseases. These encompass polycystic kidney diseases and diseases of the nephronophthisis/medullary cystic kidney disease complex including more complex ciliopathies such as Joubert Syndrome, Meckel-Gruber Syndrome, and Bardet-Biedl-Syndrome (
Zebrafish as a model for human hereditary glomerulopathies
Zebrafish models can recapitulate human genetic glomerulopathies, i.e., a variety of podocytopathies that clinically often manifest by steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS) due to podocyte foot process effacement. SRNS is mostly therapy-resistant and leads to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) within a few years of onset. A growing number of SRNS-causing mutations have been identified. For example, mutations in NPHS1, encoding Nephrin, cause congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type. Morpholino knockdown of nphs1 in zebrafish results in edema and loss of slit-diaphragms with abnormal podocyte foot processes (
Whereas in many studies of genetic glomerulopathies the zebrafish has been used to model human disease-associated phenotypes, disruption of the glomerular filtration barrier can only be visualized by ultrastructural techniques like super-resolution or electron microscopy that are not compatible with large-scale chemical screens. Edema formation in zebrafish embryos can indirectly report glomerular barrier impairments; however, despite being easily observed in brightfield microscopy it is not exclusively linked to renal impairment (
Zebrafish as a model for human cystic kidney diseases
Cystic diseases of the kidney are frequent monogenic disorders in humans (
Mutations in polycystin-1 and polycystin-2 are responsible for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), the most common human congenital renal disorder (
Nephronophthisis (NPHP), an autosomal recessive cystic kidney disease, represents the most frequent genetic cause of ESRD in the first three decades of life (
Intraflagellar transport (IFT) proteins are essential for the development and maintenance of motile and sensory cilia and localize to the cilium, basal body, and/or centrosome (
Chemical screening in zebrafish—technical aspects and considerations
The zebrafish can cost-effectively bridge the gap between high-throughput experimentation in cellular models lacking physiological context and low-throughput models such as rodents that are closer to human biology (
To our knowledge, large-scale screening experiments evaluating fluorescent pronephric phenotypes in models of genetic kidney diseases have not been demonstrated. In a chemical modifier screen using a custom library of 115 compounds in pkd2hi4166 and ift172hi2211 mutants displaying renal cysts (
In combination with automated microscopy (
Prior to large-scale zebrafish experiments careful planning and preparatory experiments are required to generate robust protocols and tailor conditions toward desired readouts in screening compatible disease models. In brief, handling of thousands of embryos causes logistical challenges, thus protocols for animal husbandry, micromanipulation, embryo culture, and treatment (e.g., anesthesia), and sample handling must be established. When image-based assays are carried out the usage of pigmentation mutant strains (e.g., casper line) or chemical treatment (e.g., 1-phenyl-2-thiourea, PTU) to block pigment formation is often necessary to adequately visualize internal structures. Moreover, to minimize false positive and negative results, non-specific developmental toxicity or off-target effects, control experiments must be carried out to titrate required compound concentration ranges as well as the treatment period during embryonic development. Importantly, controls should also be continuously carried out as a reference readout to benchmark observed phenotypic effects and normalize experimental variation. Finally, image acquisition routines must be balanced with analysis needs to ensure effective and robust scoring of phenotypic alterations.
Despite its amenability to large-scale experimentation, the full exploitation of the zebrafish model in screening assays is often hampered. While sample manipulation can be scaled efficiently, large-scale imaging, and phenotypic scoring remains challenging as available screening methodologies are usually optimized for in vitro assays (Figure 2A) (126). In comparison to cellular models, zebrafish embryos are large three-dimensional objects of complex morphology leading to random orientation of embryos within wells of microtiter plates (126, 127). This can obscure the view on target structures and leads to the generation of non-standardized image data. Therefore, novel sample preparations or automation strategies are needed, as it is unfeasible to upscale classical zebrafish mounting techniques. In our work, we developed orientation tools allowing the generation of agarose cavities within wells of microtiter plates for consistent positioning and orientation of zebrafish embryos (Figure 2B) (
Figure 2

Overview of screening workflows for organ specific phenotypic screening in zebrafish. Shown are examples from our screening work that illustrate the automatic acquisition of higher resolution datasets of embryonic kidneys in zebrafish embryos. (A) Experimental manipulation of embryos prior to mounting and automated imaging such as microinjection or compound treatment. (B) Mounting of zebrafish embryos in agarose coated microtiter plates generated using 3D printed orientation tools. Agarose layers contain cavities allowing for consistent alignment and orientation of specimen. (C) Automated acquisition of standardized views (e.g., dorsal) of zebrafish embryos arrayed in microtiter plates. (D) Automated acquisition of multidimensional image datasets using smart imaging techniques. Pronephric areas of the Tg(wt1b:egfp) zebrafish transgenic line are detected in low resolution datasets using image processing tools and are subsequently imaged at higher resolution. The hair cross indicates the detected position and the bounding box the field of view in subsequent higher resolution imaging. Scale bars indicate 600 μm (left panel) or 150 μm (right panel). (E) Detailed visualization of kidney regions enabling scoring of kidney phenotypes. Shown are wildtype (first row) or cystic (other rows) kidneys of 72 hpf Tg(wt1b:egfp) embryos. (F) Automated quantitative analysis and phenotypic scoring using image processing techniques. Heatmap shows quantitative measurements of cystic areas as shown in (E). Figure panels are taken or modified from Westhoff et al. (
To date, the vast majority of zebrafish screens employ low magnification to capture the entire zebrafish embryo body, followed by subsequent analysis of phenotypic changes (
Due to the wide variety of potential zebrafish screening assays and thus phenotypic readouts there are myriad of potential quantitative descriptors that can be extracted from image-based datasets. This can include fluorescence intensity, morphological descriptors, or dynamic parameters and ranges from simple whole embryo signal intensity to spatiotemporal activity of fluorescent reporters or tissue dynamics and beyond. For instance, advanced segmentation techniques were used in the Tg(cdh17:egfp)pt305 zebrafish line to detect the fluorescently labeled tubular cells of the kidney (
Conclusions
Phenotype-based, cost-effective whole-organism chemical screening in zebrafish offers a variety of advantages including the identification of disease-modifying drugs without knowledge of a validated target, the potential to identify compounds with polypharmacological efficacy, and the simultaneous assessment of compound efficacy, toxicity, biodistribution, and pharmacokinetics within a vertebrate model system. While a growing number of genes are being identified to cause human kidney diseases, therapeutic options to combat these diseases are often absent. Ideally, the use of genetically modified zebrafish mimicking human genetic disorders in conjunction with kidney-specific transgenic reporter lines or in conjunction with fluorescently-labeled functional reporter lines (or other secondary readouts), permit the implementation of chemical screening for disease-modifying substances in the field of genetic kidney diseases.
Statements
Author contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
Acknowledgments
We thank Franz Schaefer (University Children's Hospital Heidelberg), Felix Loosli (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and Jochen Wittbrodt (Centre for Organismal Studies (COS) Heidelberg) for general support. This work was partially funded by the RENALTRACT ITN project, that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement N°642937. JHW has received funding from Peter-Stiftung für die Nierenwissenschaft and Doktor Robert Pfleger-Stiftung. We acknowledge financial support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the funding programme Open Access Publishing, by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts and by Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
Conflict of interest
GP and JG are employees of DITABIS AG, Pforzheim, Germany. The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
zebrafish, drug screening, compound screening, genetic kidney disease, high-throughput, high-content, automated microscopy
Citation
Gehrig J, Pandey G and Westhoff JH (2018) Zebrafish as a Model for Drug Screening in Genetic Kidney Diseases. Front. Pediatr. 6:183. doi: 10.3389/fped.2018.00183
Received
15 February 2018
Accepted
04 June 2018
Published
28 June 2018
Volume
6 - 2018
Edited by
Miriam Schmidts, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands
Reviewed by
Ruxandra Bachmann-Gagescu, Universität Zürich, Switzerland; Rachel Lennon, University of Manchester, United Kingdom; Rebecca Ann Wingert, University of Notre Dame, United States
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Copyright
© 2018 Gehrig, Pandey and Westhoff.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Jens H. Westhoff jens.westhoff@med.uni-heidelberg.de
This article was submitted to Pediatric Nephrology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics
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