Yu-chi Shen, Ph.D.

The Research

University of Michigan

The role of MIF in zebrafish inner ear development

We hypothesize that MIF plays a major role in otic development, specifically in neurite outgrowth and survival of the developing SAG neurons in the inner ear. We have found that MIF is expressed in the mammalian (mouse) inner ear, the chick inner ear and in the model system we have chosen to study, the zebrafish inner ear. Zebrafish auditory system development recapitulates many aspects of early mammalian inner ear development and neurogenesis. More importantly, the same molecules that are active in the mammal are active in the zebrafish and the zebrafish inner ear development is both easier to study and is extremely rapid. We will examine early survival and maturation factors for the SAG and use advanced imaging to trace SAG precursor cell movements from the otic vesicle to the ganglion. Preliminary studies using in situ hybridization demonstrated that MIF and MIF-like genes and their receptors are expressed in zebrafish SAG and developing inner ear. Our experiments will examine whether MIF and MIFlike gene loss-of-function using morpholino antisense oligonucleotides (MOs) affects SAG development and whether this loss of function can be "rescued" by introducing MIF RNA.