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Zebrafish: A Model Organism for Human Health and Disease

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 1382

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Division of Neurotoxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, US Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR 72079, USA
Interests: neuroscience (neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration); zebrafish; developmental biology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Zebrafish are an attractive vertebrate model used in drug discovery. Due to their small size, external development, and transparency, zebrafish embryos are compatible with multi-well plates for high-throughput screening. Based on the availability of zebrafish genome sequences, the ease of creating transgenic and genetic mutants, and the conservation of signal transduction pathways, a variety of human diseases have been modeled using zebrafish. Moreover, biological pathways, such as physiological and molecular events, which control the development and function of most organ systems, including the cardiovascular, skeletal, nervous, digestive, and visual systems of zebrafish, are similar to those in mammals. The zebrafish reference genome published in 2013 has further accelerated the use of zebrafish in human disease modelling. In the last two decades, zebrafish have become popular in pharmaceutical and toxicological research. Consequently, several drugs have been used to treat human diseases (including tuberculosis, neuronal, and auditory disorders, as well as several types of cancer) have been identified from zebrafish screens. Such advances in this area of research have established zebrafish as an invaluable human disease model. This Special Issue aims to cover current research and provide an overview of the advances made in the area of drug discovery and disease modeling using the zebrafish model.

Dr. Jyotshna Kanungo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • zebrafish
  • drug discovery
  • high-throughput screens
  • genome editing/CRISPR mutants
  • cancer
  • neuronal disorders
  • drug toxicity
  • drug effect mechanisms
  • developmental disorders

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

15 pages, 2229 KiB  
Review
Neurogenic Effects of Inorganic Arsenic and Cdk5 Knockdown in Zebrafish Embryos: A Perspective on Modeling Autism
by Qiang Gu and Jyotshna Kanungo
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(6), 3459; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25063459 - 19 Mar 2024
Viewed by 692
Abstract
The exact mechanisms of the development of autism, a multifactorial neurological disorder, are not clear. The pathophysiology of autism is complex, and investigations at the cellular and molecular levels are ongoing to provide clarity. Mutations in specific genes have been identified as risk [...] Read more.
The exact mechanisms of the development of autism, a multifactorial neurological disorder, are not clear. The pathophysiology of autism is complex, and investigations at the cellular and molecular levels are ongoing to provide clarity. Mutations in specific genes have been identified as risk factors for autism. The role of heavy metals in the pathogenesis of autism is subject to many studies and remains debatable. Although no exact neuronal phenotypes have been identified linked to autistic symptoms, overproduction and reduction of specific neurons have been implicated. A growing literature on generating genetic and non-genetic models of autism aims to help with understanding mechanistic studies that can explain the complexity of the disorder. Both genetic and non-genetic methods of zebrafish have been used to model autism. For several human autism risk genes, validated zebrafish mutant models have been generated. There is growing evidence indicating a potential link between autism and inorganic arsenic exposure. We have previously shown that inorganic arsenic induces supernumerary spinal motor neurons via Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway, and Cdk5 knockdown causes an overproduction of cranial and spinal motor neurons in zebrafish. Here, in this review, we provide a perspective on what these findings of neurogenic phenotypes mean in terms of dysregulated pathways of motor neuron development and their applicability to understanding cellular and molecular underpinnings of autism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zebrafish: A Model Organism for Human Health and Disease)
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