Movie 2.

Xylazine treatment causes keratinocyte extrusion and tissue-wide contraction. Zebrafish larvae were mounted in a zWEDGI restraining device in E3 with 0.2 mg/mL tricaine and imaged by brightfield microscopy for 5 minutes, at which time xylazine (bottom panel) or an equal volume of RO water (top panel) was dripped into the chamber to a final volume of 5 mg/mL xylazine. Note the keratinocyte extrusion events that occur between 3-10 minutes post-treatment with xylazine and the tissue-wide tail contraction that occurs throughout the movie. Scale bars = 200 μm.

Evidence that xylazine disrupts skin homeostasis by acting on epithelial cells through the kappa opioid receptor

Tanner F. Robertson, Adam Horn, Frances M. Smith, and Anna Huttenlocher

Disease Models and Mechanisms 2026. 19:None-None; doi: 10.1242/dmm.052600