LE3 .A278 2022

2022

Wilson, Brian

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Biology

Biology

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a model organism that can be used to study the effects of exogenous cannabinoids on traumatic brain injury due to their well-developed central nervous system that includes brain structures analogous to mammalian neural anatomy. The objective of the present investigation was to study the effect of cannabidiol (CBD) treatment on attenuating brain inflammation and promoting regeneration following traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI was introduced by inserting a needle through the left nostril into the left telencephalic vesicle of anesthetized, adult zebrafish. Zebrafish were then treated with either conditioned water (half system water from the animal care facility and half geothermal water), DMSO, or CBD for one hour post injury. Treatment with CBD increased the number of PCNA immuno-positive cells and decreased the number of L-Plastin immuno-positive cells in the damaged hemisphere compared with the intact control hemisphere. This suggests that CBD suppresses inflammation and promotes neurogenesis following brain injury in zebrafish, which identifies CBD as a potential therapeutic for neuroinflammation in humans recovering from a brain injury or suffering from a neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3779