Wnt/β-katenin sinyal yolağının zebrabalığı modeli kullanılarak beyin rejenerasyonundaki rolünün araştırılması

Regeneration ability is highly limited in the mammalian central nervous system. On the contrary, one of the teleost models zebrafish has enormous brain regeneration capacity among vertebrates. Taking the brain regeneration ability of adult zebrafish as an advantage, elucidation of molecular mechanisms of brain regeneration has a pivotal role for regenerative medicine research. Wnt signaling is one of the tightly regulated signaling pathways that involve in organ regeneration and tissue homeostasis. Dysregulation and certain mutation in both components and downstream targets of Wnt signaling lead to improper tissue regeneration and cancer. Identification of novel Wnt modulators paves the way for the treatment of various Wnt signaling dependent diseases. In the scope of this thesis, traumatic brain injury model was performed in the adult zebrafish telencephalon. Reporter activity was measured by q-PCR in both injured and uninjured hemispheres of the telencephalon in Wnt reporter line at two separate stages; early-stage and proliferative stage. In addition, localization of Wnt signaling was detected in the regions of telencephalon by immunohistochemistry staining. RNA Sequencing was also performed to identify Wnt modulators which involve in brain regeneration. In conclusion, novel Wnt modulators and their potential interactors have been identified at two crucial stages of brain regeneration.