Skip Navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document
Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document

Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Zebrafish as a neurotoxicological model.

Authors: Linney, Elwood; Upchurch, Lucia; Donerly, Susan

Published In Neurotoxicol Teratol, (2004 Nov-Dec)

Abstract: At a time when common regulatory pathways are being identified in several different species and genomics is beginning to allow comparisons of genes, how they are arranged on chromosomes and how they are regulated, zebrafish has emerged as a valuable and complementary vertebrate model. Some of the characteristics that prove of value are described and illustrated. Fluorescent transgenic lines of zebrafish embryos are presented for time-line studies with neurotoxicants. While genetic knockout technology has yet to be developed for the model, the anti-sense, morpholino approach allows for knockdown of expression of genes for the 3 day, embryonic period. This can provide for phenocopies of mutant genes for those genes essential to embryonic development or it can provide for a limited inhibition of gene expression that allows subsequent development of the fish. With the zebrafish genomic sequencing effort, microarray technology is now developing for the model system. These resources and technologies allow one to challenge the system with toxicants, and to view the immediate effects of the toxicants with transgenic embryos that fluoresce in part or all of the nervous system. Behavioral and learning protocols have been developed for the organism so that early exposures can be assayed for effects upon adult fish. Microarray technology should allow for one to identify specific genes and pathways affected by a neurotoxicant. In the future, these approaches should provide a working protocol for exploring molecular mechanisms of neurotoxicants. This type of complementary approach should then allow for more efficient examination and testing of mechanisms in mammalian models.

PubMed ID: 15451034 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified/embryology; Animals, Genetically Modified/genetics*; Antisense Elements (Genetics)/genetics; Bacterial Proteins; Behavior, Animal/drug effects; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Chlorpyrifos/toxicity; Disease Models, Animal*; Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects*; Embryo, Nonmammalian/embryology; Embryo, Nonmammalian/physiology; Environmental Exposure; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental/drug effects; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental/genetics; Genomic Library; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Learning/drug effects; Learning/physiology; Luminescent Proteins; Mutation/drug effects; Mutation/genetics; Neurotoxins/toxicity*; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/methods; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.; Time Factors; Zebrafish/embryology; Zebrafish/genetics*

Back
to Top