Mortality Caused by Bath Exposure of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Larvae to Nervous Necrosis Virus Is Limited to the Fourth Day Postfertilization |
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| Authors: | Danny Morick Or Faigenbaum Margarita Smirnov Yakov Fellig Adi Inbal Moshe Kotler |
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| Institution: | aDepartment of Pathology and the Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology, The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel;bDepartment of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Nir David, Israel;cDepartment of Medical Neurobiology, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel |
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| Abstract: | Nervous necrosis virus (NNV) is a member of the Betanodavirus genus that causes fatal diseases in over 40 species of fish worldwide. Mortality among NNV-infected fish larvae is almost 100%. In order to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the susceptibility of fish larvae to NNV, we exposed zebrafish larvae to NNV by bath immersion at 2, 4, 6, and 8 days postfertilization (dpf). Here, we demonstrate that developing zebrafish embryos are resistant to NNV at 2 dpf due to the protection afforded by the egg chorion and, to a lesser extent, by the perivitelline fluid. The zebrafish larvae succumbed to NNV infection during a narrow time window around the 4th dpf, while 6- and 8-day-old larvae were much less sensitive, with mortalities of 24% and 28%, respectively. |
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