Fishing for gene function--endocrine modelling in the zebrafish.
J Endocrinol
; 189(3): 425-39, 2006 Jun.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-16731775
ABSTRACT
The use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in scientific research is growing rapidly. It initially became popular as a model of vertebrate development because zebrafish embryos develop rapidly and are transparent. In the past 5 years, the sequencing of the zebrafish genome has increased the profile of zebrafish research even further, expanding into other areas such as pharmacology, cancer research and drug discovery. The use of zebrafish in endocrine research has mainly been confined to the study of the development of endocrine organs. However, it is likely to be a useful model in other areas of endocrinology, as there are a wide variety of both forward and reverse genetic techniques that can be employed in the zebrafish to decipher gene function in disease states. In this review, we compare the endocrine system of the zebrafish to mouse and human, demonstrating that the systems are sufficiently similar for zebrafish to be employed as a model for endocrine research. We subsequently review the repertoire of genetic techniques commonly employed in the zebrafish model to understand gene function in vertebrate development and disease. We anticipate that the use of these techniques will make the zebrafish a prominent model in endocrine research in the coming years.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Peixe-Zebra
/
Modelos Animais
/
Proteínas de Peixe-Zebra
/
Glândulas Endócrinas
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Endocrinol
Ano de publicação:
2006
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido