Abstract
Danio rerio (zebrafish) is an elective model organism for the study of vertebrate development because of its high degree of homology with human genes and organs, including bone. Zebrafish embryos, because of the optical clarity, small size, and fast development, can be easily used in large-scale mutagenesis experiments to isolate mutants with developmental skeletal defects and in high-throughput screenings to find new chemical compounds for the ability to revert the pathological phenotype. On the other hand, the adult zebrafish represents another powerful resource for pathogenic and therapeutic studies about adult human bone diseases. In fish, some characteristics such as bone turnover, reparation, and remodeling of the adult bone tissue cannot be found at the embryonic stage. Several pathological models have been established in adult zebrafish such as bone injury models, osteoporosis, and genetic diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta. Given the growing interest for metabolic diseases and their complications, adult zebrafish models of type 2 diabetes and obesity have been recently generated and analyzed for bone complications using scales as model system. Interestingly, an osteoporosis-like phenotype has been found to be associated with metabolic alterations suggesting that bone complications share the same mechanisms in humans and fish. Embryo and adult represent powerful resources in rapid development to study bone physiology and pathology from different points of view.
Highlights
The Bone Tissue from Danio rerio to Homo sapiensDanio rerio is an elective model organism for the study of vertebrate development. is is due to the unique characteristics of the embryo such as large clutches, small size, rapid external development, and transparency of the larval body
Zebrafish embryo is a powerful model to study osteogenesis, since five days after the fertilization of eggs the first mineralized vertebrae are already present and they can be visualized using vital dyes specific for the mineralized matrix [2]. e similarity of the adult skeletal structure between Danio rerio and Homo sapiens has hired zebrafish as animal model to study different aspects of skeletal physiology and BioMed Research International pathology: bone metabolism, tissue turnover, and resorbing activity [3]
We focused the attention on two different points of view in zebrafish skeletal studies: embryos and adult animals
Summary
Danio rerio (zebrafish) is an elective model organism for the study of vertebrate development. is is due to the unique characteristics of the embryo such as large clutches (up to 250 embryos/week), small size, rapid external development, and transparency of the larval body. Is is due to the unique characteristics of the embryo such as large clutches (up to 250 embryos/week), small size, rapid external development, and transparency of the larval body. Danio rerio (zebrafish) is an elective model organism for the study of vertebrate development. Such advantages encourage the use of live imaging and powerful genetic tools based on mutagenesis. E similarity of the adult skeletal structure between Danio rerio and Homo sapiens has hired zebrafish as animal model to study different aspects of skeletal physiology and BioMed Research International pathology: bone metabolism, tissue turnover, and resorbing activity [3]. Which resources and methods they offer to the medical research?
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