Rapid altitude displacement induce zebrafish appearing acute high altitude illness symptoms

• Published in: Heliyon Vol. 10; no. 7; p. e28429
• Main Authors: Ma, Jiahui, Ma, Yilei, Yi, Jia, Lei, Pengyu, Fang, Yimeng, Wang, Lei, Liu, Fan, Luo, Li, Zhang, Kun, Jin, Libo, Yang, Qinsi, Sun, Da, Zhang, Chi, Wu, Dejun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 15.04.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acute high altitude illness; Environmental simulation; High altitude environment; Model construction; Zebrafish; Zebrafish; Acute high altitude illness; Environmental simulation; Model construction; High altitude environment
• ISSN: 2405-8440; 2405-8440
• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28429

Rapid ascent to high-altitude areas above 2500 m often leads to acute high altitude illness (AHAI), posing significant health risks. Current models for AHAI research are limited in their ability to accurately simulate the high-altitude environment for drug screening. Addressing this gap, a novel static self-assembled water vacuum transparent chamber was developed to induce AHAI in zebrafish. This study identified 6000 m for 2 h as the optimal condition for AHAI induction in zebrafish. Under these conditions, notable behavioral changes including slow movement, abnormal exploration behavior and static behavior in the Novel tank test. Furthermore, this model demonstrated changes in oxidative stress-related markers included increased levels of malondialdehyde, decreased levels of glutathione, decreased activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase, and increased levels of inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α, and inflammatory cell infiltration and mild edema in the gill tissue, mirroring the clinical pathophysiology observed in AHAI patients. This innovative zebrafish model not only offers a more accurate representation of the high-altitude environment but also provides a high-throughput platform for AHAI drug discovery and pathogenesis research. •Finding a new disease model was based on zebrafish.•A better preclinical study subjects for acute high altitude illness (AHAI) was provided.•A better high-throughput drug screening for AHAI was provided.•A low-cost and flexible AHAI research equipment was established.