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Disease Models & Mechanisms Jul 2011Zebrafish studies in the past two decades have made major contributions to our understanding of hematopoiesis and its associated disorders. The zebrafish has proven to... (Review)
Review
Zebrafish studies in the past two decades have made major contributions to our understanding of hematopoiesis and its associated disorders. The zebrafish has proven to be a powerful organism for studies in this area owing to its amenability to large-scale genetic and chemical screening. In addition, the externally fertilized and transparent embryos allow convenient genetic manipulation and in vivo imaging of normal and aberrant hematopoiesis. This review discusses available methods for studying hematopoiesis in zebrafish, summarizes key recent advances in this area, and highlights the current and potential contributions of zebrafish to the discovery and development of drugs to treat human blood disorders.
Topics: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Genetic Testing; Hematologic Diseases; Hematopoiesis; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Humans; Zebrafish
PubMed: 21708900
DOI: 10.1242/dmm.006791 -
Developmental Biology Jan 2020
Topics: Animals; Biomedical Research; Developmental Biology; History, 21st Century; Poland; Zebrafish
PubMed: 31705848
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2019.11.004 -
Zebrafish Mar 2013Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are rapidly gaining popularity in translational neuroscience and behavioral research. Physiological similarity to mammals, ease of genetic... (Review)
Review
Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are rapidly gaining popularity in translational neuroscience and behavioral research. Physiological similarity to mammals, ease of genetic manipulations, sensitivity to pharmacological and genetic factors, robust behavior, low cost, and potential for high-throughput screening contribute to the growing utility of zebrafish models in this field. Understanding zebrafish behavioral phenotypes provides important insights into neural pathways, physiological biomarkers, and genetic underpinnings of normal and pathological brain function. Novel zebrafish paradigms continue to appear with an encouraging pace, thus necessitating a consistent terminology and improved understanding of the behavioral repertoire. What can zebrafish 'do', and how does their altered brain function translate into behavioral actions? To help address these questions, we have developed a detailed catalog of zebrafish behaviors (Zebrafish Behavior Catalog, ZBC) that covers both larval and adult models. Representing a beginning of creating a more comprehensive ethogram of zebrafish behavior, this effort will improve interpretation of published findings, foster cross-species behavioral modeling, and encourage new groups to apply zebrafish neurobehavioral paradigms in their research. In addition, this glossary creates a framework for developing a zebrafish neurobehavioral ontology, ultimately to become part of a unified animal neurobehavioral ontology, which collectively will contribute to better integration of biological data within and across species.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Female; Larva; Male; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Sex Characteristics; Terminology as Topic; Zebrafish
PubMed: 23590400
DOI: 10.1089/zeb.2012.0861 -
Progress in Neurobiology Jul 2014Motor neuron diseases (MNDs) are an etiologically heterogeneous group of disorders of neurodegenerative origin, which result in degeneration of lower (LMNs) and/or upper... (Review)
Review
Motor neuron diseases (MNDs) are an etiologically heterogeneous group of disorders of neurodegenerative origin, which result in degeneration of lower (LMNs) and/or upper motor neurons (UMNs). Neurodegenerative MNDs include pure hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), which involves specific degeneration of UMNs, leading to progressive spasticity of the lower limbs. In contrast, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) involves the specific degeneration of LMNs, with symmetrical muscle weakness and atrophy. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common adult-onset MND, is characterized by the degeneration of both UMNs and LMNs, leading to progressive muscle weakness, atrophy, and spasticity. A review of the comparative neuroanatomy of the human and zebrafish motor systems showed that, while the zebrafish was a homologous model for LMN disorders, such as SMA, it was only partially relevant in the case of UMN disorders, due to the absence of corticospinal and rubrospinal tracts in its central nervous system. Even considering the limitation of this model to fully reproduce the human UMN disorders, zebrafish offer an excellent alternative vertebrate model for the molecular and genetic dissection of MND mechanisms. Its advantages include the conservation of genome and physiological processes and applicable in vivo tools, including easy imaging, loss or gain of function methods, behavioral tests to examine changes in motor activity, and the ease of simultaneous chemical/drug testing on large numbers of animals. This facilitates the assessment of the environmental origin of MNDs, alone or in combination with genetic traits and putative modifier genes. Positive hits obtained by phenotype-based small-molecule screening using zebrafish may potentially be effective drugs for treatment of human MNDs.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Motor Neuron Disease; Nerve Degeneration; Spinal Cord; Zebrafish
PubMed: 24705136
DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2014.03.001 -
Current Opinion in Genetics &... Oct 2020In humans, myocardial infarction results in ventricular remodeling, progressing ultimately to cardiac failure, one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In contrast... (Review)
Review
In humans, myocardial infarction results in ventricular remodeling, progressing ultimately to cardiac failure, one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In contrast to the adult mammalian heart, the zebrafish model organism has a remarkable regenerative capacity, offering the possibility to research the bases of natural regeneration. Here, we summarize recent insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern cardiac regeneration in the zebrafish.
Topics: Animals; Heart; Myocytes, Cardiac; Regeneration; Zebrafish
PubMed: 32599303
DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2020.05.020 -
Expert Review of Vaccines 2024Zebrafishes represent a proven model for human diseases and systems biology, exhibiting physiological and genetic similarities and having innate and adaptive immune... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Zebrafishes represent a proven model for human diseases and systems biology, exhibiting physiological and genetic similarities and having innate and adaptive immune systems. However, they are underexplored for human vaccinology, vaccine development, and testing. Here we summarize gaps and challenges.
AREAS COVERED
Zebrafish models have four potential applications: 1) Vaccine safety: The past successes in using zebrafishes to test xenobiotics could extend to vaccine and adjuvant formulations for general safety or target organs due to the zebrafish embryos' optical transparency. 2) Innate immunity: The zebrafish offers refined ways to examine vaccine effects through signaling via Toll-like or NOD-like receptors in zebrafish myeloid cells. 3) Adaptive immunity: Zebrafishes produce IgM, IgD,and two IgZ immunoglobulins, but these are understudied, due to a lack of immunological reagents for challenge studies. 4) Systems vaccinology: Due to the availability of a well-referenced zebrafish genome, transcriptome, proteome, and epigenome, this model offers potential here.
EXPERT OPINION
It remains unproven whether zebrafishes can be employed for testing and developing human vaccines. We are still at the hypothesis-generating stage, although it is possible to begin outlining experiments for this purpose. Through transgenic manipulation, zebrafish models could offer new paths for shaping animal models and systems vaccinology.
Topics: Zebrafish; Animals; Adjuvants, Immunologic; Humans; Vaccines; Immunity, Innate; Vaccine Development; Models, Animal; Adaptive Immunity; Vaccinology
PubMed: 38664959
DOI: 10.1080/14760584.2024.2345685 -
Progress in Biophysics and Molecular... 2008Over the last decade the zebrafish has emerged as a major genetic model organism. While stimulated originally by the utility of its transparent embryos for the study of... (Review)
Review
Over the last decade the zebrafish has emerged as a major genetic model organism. While stimulated originally by the utility of its transparent embryos for the study of vertebrate organogenesis, the success of the zebrafish was consolidated through multiple genetic screens, sequencing of the fish genome by the Sanger Center, and the advent of extensive genomic resources. In the last few years the potential of the zebrafish for in vivo cell biology, physiology, disease modeling and drug discovery has begun to be realized. This review will highlight work on cardiac electrophysiology, emphasizing the arenas in which the zebrafish complements other in vivo and in vitro models; developmental physiology, large-scale screens, high-throughput disease modeling and drug discovery. Much of this work is at an early stage, and so the focus will be on the general principles, the specific advantages of the zebrafish and on future potential.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; Arrhythmias, Cardiac; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Electrophysiological Phenomena; Models, Genetic; Regeneration; Zebrafish
PubMed: 19351520
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2009.01.011 -
ELife Sep 2021The spatial organization of gut microbiota influences both microbial abundances and host-microbe interactions, but the underlying rules relating bacterial dynamics to...
The spatial organization of gut microbiota influences both microbial abundances and host-microbe interactions, but the underlying rules relating bacterial dynamics to large-scale structure remain unclear. To this end, we studied experimentally and theoretically the formation of three-dimensional bacterial clusters, a key parameter controlling susceptibility to intestinal transport and access to the epithelium. Inspired by models of structure formation in soft materials, we sought to understand how the distribution of gut bacterial cluster sizes emerges from bacterial-scale kinetics. Analyzing imaging-derived data on cluster sizes for eight different bacterial strains in the larval zebrafish gut, we find a common family of size distributions that decay approximately as power laws with exponents close to -2, becoming shallower for large clusters in a strain-dependent manner. We show that this type of distribution arises naturally from a Yule-Simons-type process in which bacteria grow within clusters and can escape from them, coupled to an aggregation process that tends to condense the system toward a single massive cluster, reminiscent of gel formation. Together, these results point to the existence of general, biophysical principles governing the spatial organization of the gut microbiome that may be useful for inferring fast-timescale dynamics that are experimentally inaccessible.
Topics: Animals; Bacteria; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Gastrointestinal Tract; Gels; Kinetics; Models, Theoretical; Population Density; Zebrafish
PubMed: 34490846
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.71105 -
FEBS Letters May 2011The zebrafish represents a fascinating model for studying key aspects of the vertebrate circadian timing system. Easy access to early embryonic development has made this... (Review)
Review
The zebrafish represents a fascinating model for studying key aspects of the vertebrate circadian timing system. Easy access to early embryonic development has made this species ideal for investigating how the clock is first established during embryogenesis. In particular, the molecular basis for the functional development of the zebrafish pineal gland has received much attention. In addition to this dedicated clock and photoreceptor organ, and unlike the situation in mammals, the clocks in zebrafish peripheral tissues and even cell lines are entrainable by direct exposure to light thus providing unique insight into the function and evolution of the light input pathway. Finally, the small size, low maintenance costs and high fecundity of this fish together with the availability of genetic tools make this an attractive model for forward genetic analysis of the circadian clock. Here, we review the work that has established the zebrafish as a valuable clock model organism and highlight the key questions that will shape the future direction of research.
Topics: Animals; Circadian Clocks; Humans; Light; Swimming; Zebrafish
PubMed: 21486566
DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2011.04.007 -
Genes Mar 2019Zebrafish are well-suited for in vivo calcium imaging because of the transparency of their larvae and the ability to express calcium probes in various cell subtypes....
Zebrafish are well-suited for in vivo calcium imaging because of the transparency of their larvae and the ability to express calcium probes in various cell subtypes. This model organism has been used extensively to study brain development, neuronal function, and network activity. However, only a few studies have investigated calcium homeostasis and signaling in zebrafish neurons, and little is known about the proteins that are involved in these processes. Using bioinformatics analysis and available databases, the present study identified 491 genes of the zebrafish Calcium Toolkit (CaTK). Using RNA-sequencing, we then evaluated the expression of these genes in the adult zebrafish brain and found 380 hits that belonged to the CaTK. Based on quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction arrays, we estimated the relative mRNA levels in the brain of CaTK genes at two developmental stages. In both 5 dpf larvae and adult zebrafish, the highest relative expression was observed for , which encodes a Golgi membrane protein. The present data on CaTK genes will contribute to future applications of zebrafish as a model for in vivo and in vitro studies of Ca signaling.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Calcium Signaling; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Models, Animal; Sequence Analysis, RNA; Zebrafish; Zebrafish Proteins
PubMed: 30889933
DOI: 10.3390/genes10030230