Laser Ablation of the Zebrafish Pronephros to Study Renal Epithelial Regeneration

Acute kidney injury (AKI) in humans is a common clinical problem caused by damage to the epithelial cells that comprise kidney nephrons, and AKI is associated with high mortality rates of 50-70%¹. Following epithelial cell destruction, nephrons have a limited ability to regenerate, though the mechanisms and limitations that guide this phenomenon remain poorly understood. In this video article, we describe our technique for targeted laser ablation of kidney nephron cells in the zebrafish embryo kidney, or pronephros. Our new method can be used to complement nephrotoxicity-induced models of AKI and gain a high-resolution understanding of the cell and molecular alterations that are associated with epithelial regeneration in the kidney nephron.