Abstract
From pre-historic era, all scientific discoveries have evolved around a concept – THINK BIG but for a change zebrafish as a model organism in research had managed to halt the entire medical community and made us realize that it’s time to think small. From a barely imagined being in research few years ago to around 4,000 publications in just last year, zebrafish has definitely come a long way. Through these tiny fish, scientists have managed to find genes that caused human diseases and have also developed various specific models to know more about the pathology behind such diseases. This review will focus on zebrafish as a model organism from the time it was introduced to the most novel targets with particular emphasis on central nervous system (CNS) as it is rapidly evolving branch in zebrafish research these days. This review will try to shed light on the early stages of zebrafish as a model organism and will try to cover the journey of it developing as a successful model organism to map many diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer’s and autism describing the rationale for using this specific model and briefly the techniques under each category and finally will summarize the pros and cons of the model with its expected future directions.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Dr. Ranjan and Mr. Sanjay from JIPMER, Puducherry for helping me with the manuscript.
-
Research funding : None declared.
-
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
-
Competing interests: Author states no conflict of interest.
-
Informed consent: Not applicable.
-
Ethical approval: Not applicable.
References
1. Sarvaiya, VN, Sadariya, KA, Rana, MP, Thaker, AM. Zebrafish as model organism for drug discovery and toxicity testing: a review. Vet Clin Sci 2014;2:31–8.Search in Google Scholar
2. Zon, LI, Peterson, RT. In vivo drug discovery in the zebrafish. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2005;4:35–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd1606.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
3. Varga, M. The doctor of delayed publications: the remarkable life of George Streisinger (1927–1984). Zebrafish 2018;15:314–9. https://doi.org/10.1089/zeb.2017.1531.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
4. Briggs, JP. The zebrafish: a new model organism for integrative physiology. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2002;282:R3–9. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00589.2001.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
5. ZFIN The Zebrafish Information Network [Internet]. Available from: https://zfin.org/ [Cited 23 Jul 2020].Search in Google Scholar
6. Guidance on the housing and care of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) [Internet]. Available from: www.rspca.org.uk [Cited 23 Jul 2020].Search in Google Scholar
7. Lawrence, C. Advances in zebrafish husbandry and management. In: Methods in cell biology. Elsevier; 2011:429–51 pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-374814-0.00023-9.Search in Google Scholar
8. Hock, FJ. Drug discovery and evaluation: pharmacological assays. 4th ed. Berlin Springer International Publishing; 2016:4071–134 pp. Chapter: Zebrafish.10.1007/978-3-319-05392-9_135Search in Google Scholar
9. Meshalkina, DA, Kysil, EV, Warnick, JE, Demin, KA, Kalueff, AV. Adult zebrafish in CNS disease modeling: a tank that’s half-full, not half-empty, and still filling. Lab Anim 2017;46:378–87. https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.1345.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
10. Abreu, MS, Giacomini, AC, Genario, R, Dos Santos, BE, da Rosa, LG, Demin, KA, et al.. Neuropharmacology, pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics of aggression: the zebrafish model. Pharmacol Res 2019;141:602–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2019.01.044.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
11. Khan, KM, Collier, AD, Meshalkina, DA, Kysil, EV, Khatsko, SL, Kolesnikova, T, et al.. Zebrafish models in neuropsychopharmacology and CNS drug discovery. Br J Pharmacol 2017;174:1925–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13754.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
12. Stewart, AM, Braubach, O, Spitsbergen, J, Gerlai, R, Kalueff, AV. Zebrafish models for translational neuroscience research: from tank to bedside. Trends Neurosci 2014;37:264–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2014.02.011.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
13. Avdesh, A, Martin-Iverson, MT, Mondal, A, Chen, M, Askraba, S, Morgan, N, et al.. Evaluation of color preference in zebrafish for learning and memory. J Alzheimers Dis 2012;28:459–69. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-2011-110704.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
14. Stewart, AM, Gaikwad, S, Kyzar, E, Kalueff, AV. Understanding spatio-temporal strategies of adult zebrafish exploration in the open field test. Brain Res 2012;1451:44–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2012.02.064.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
15. Pham, M, Raymond, J, Hester, J, Kyzar, E, Gaikwad, S, Bruce, I, et al.. Assessing social behavior phenotypes in adult zebrafish: shoaling, social preference, and mirror biting tests. In: Zebrafish protocols for neurobehavioral research. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press; 2012:231–46 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-597-8_17.Search in Google Scholar
16. Stowers, JR, Hofbauer, M, Bastien, R, Griessner, J, Higgins, P, Farooqui, S, et al.. Virtual reality for freely moving animals. Nat Methods 2017;14:995–1002. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4399.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
17. Kabashi, E, Brustein, E, Champagne, N, Drapeau, P. Zebrafish models for the functional genomics of neurogenetic disorders. Biochim Biophys Acta 2011;1812:335–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2010.09.011.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
18. Chatterjee, D, Shams, S, Gerlai, R. Chronic and acute alcohol administration induced neurochemical changes in the brain: comparison of distinct zebrafish populations. Amino Acids 2014;46:921–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-013-1658-y.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
19. Tran, S, Gerlai, R. Zebrafish models of alcohol addiction. In: Watson, RR, Zibadi, S, editors. Addictive substances and neurological disease: alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and drugs of abuse in everyday lifestyles. Academic Press; 2017:59–66 pp. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-805373-7.00007-4.Search in Google Scholar
20. Saleem, S, Kannan, RR. Zebrafish: an emerging real-time model system to study Alzheimer’s disease and neurospecific drug discovery. Cell Death Dis 2018;4:1–3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-018-0109-7.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
21. Newman, M, Verdile, G, Martins, RN, Lardelli, M. Zebrafish as a tool in Alzheimer’s disease research. Biochim Biophys Acta 2011;1812:346–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2010.09.012.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
22. Cameron, DJ, Galvin, C, Alkam, T, Sidhu, H, Ellison, J, Luna, S, et al.. Alzheimer’s-related peptide amyloid-β plays a conserved role in angiogenesis. PLoS One 2012;7:e39598. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039598.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
23. Stewart, AM, Braubach, O, Spitsbergen, J, Gerlai, R, Kalueff, AV. Zebrafish models for translational neuroscience research: from tank to bedside. Trends Neurosci 2014;37:264–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2014.02.011.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
24. Curtright, A, Rosser, M, Goh, S, Keown, B, Wagner, E, Sharifi, J, et al.. Modeling nociception in zebrafish: a way forward for unbiased analgesic discovery. PLoS One 2015;10:e0116766. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0116766.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
25. Bakkers, J. Zebrafish as a model to study cardiac development and human cardiac disease. Cardiovasc Res 2011;91:279–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvr098.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
26. Giardoglou, P, Beis, D. On zebrafish disease models and matters of the heart. Biomedicines 2019;7:15. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines7010015.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
27. Gut, P, Reischauer, S, Stainier, DY, Arnaout, R. Little fish, big data: zebrafish as a model for cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Physiol Rev 2017;97:889–938. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00038.2016.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
28. Musso, G, Tasan, M, Mosimann, C, Beaver, JE, Plovie, E, Carr, LA, et al.. Novel cardiovascular gene functions revealed via systematic phenotype prediction in zebrafish. Development 2014;141:224–35. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.099796.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
29. Yang, Y, Tomkovich, S, Jobin, C. Could a swimming creature inform us on intestinal diseases? Lessons from zebrafish. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2014;20:956–66.https://doi.org/10.1097/01.mib.0000442923.85569.68.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
30. Brugman, S. The zebrafish as a model to study intestinal inflammation. Dev Comp Immunol 2016;64:82–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2016.02.020.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
31. Lu, JW, Ho, YJ, Yang, YJ, Liao, HA, Ciou, SC, Lin, LI, et al.. Zebrafish as a disease model for studying human hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2015;21:12042. https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.12042.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
32. Chu, J, Sadler, KC. New school in liver development: lessons from zebrafish. Hepatology 2009;50:1656–63. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.23157.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
33. Teame, T, Zhang, Z, Ran, C, Zhang, H, Yang, Y, Ding, Q, et al.. The use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as biomedical models. Anim Front 2019;9:68–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfz020.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
34. Intine, RV, Olsen, AS, Sarras, MPJr. A zebrafish model of diabetes mellitus and metabolic memory. J Vis Exp 2013;28:e50232. https://doi.org/10.3791/50232.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
35. Poureetezadi, SJ, Wingert, RA. Little fish, big catch: zebrafish as a model for kidney disease. Kidney Int 2016;89:1204–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2016.01.031.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
36. Frantz, WT, Ceol, CJ. From tank to treatment: modeling melanoma in zebrafish. Cells 2020;9:1289. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9051289.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
37. Casey, MJ, Stewart, RA. Pediatric cancer models in zebrafish. Trends Cancer 2020;6:407–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trecan.2020.02.006.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
38. Ma, AC, Guo, Y, He, AB, Leung, AY. Modeling tumor angiogenesis with zebrafish. Vasculogenesis and angiogenesis: from embryonic development to regenerative medicine. London: IntechOpen; 2011:133 p.Search in Google Scholar
39. Iyengar, S, Kasheta, M, Ceol, CJ. Poised regeneration of zebrafish melanocytes involves direct differentiation and concurrent replenishment of tissue-resident progenitor cells. Dev Cell 2015;33:631–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2015.04.025.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
40. Poss, KD, Nechiporuk, A, Hillam, AM, Johnson, SL, Keating, MT. Mps1 defines a proximal blastemal proliferative compartment essential for zebrafish fin regeneration. Development 2002;129:5141–9. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.129.22.5141.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
41. Peterson, RT, MacRae, CA. Systematic approaches to toxicology in the zebrafish. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 2012;52:433–53. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010611-134751.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
42. Bambino, K, Chu, J. Zebrafish in toxicology and environmental health. Curr Top Dev Biol 2017;124:331–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ctdb.2016.10.007.Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
43. Hsu, CH, Wen, ZH, Lin, CS, Chakraborty, C. The zebrafish model: use in studying cellular mechanisms for a spectrum of clinical disease entities. Curr Neurovascular Res 2007;4:111–20. https://doi.org/10.2174/156720207780637234.Search in Google Scholar PubMed
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
