Zebrafish – Material World

Zebrafish are a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family. They are actually quite a widely used animal model for research into muscular dystrophies and there are many advantages of using zebrafish to study human disease and development: Firstly, zebrafish are small in size, and are easy to keep and breed.

They are more similar to humans than you think; many genes are shared between humans and zebrafish, including the genes used to make muscles. The genes of zebrafish can be modified or deleted, and this means we can create mutations in genes which cause human diseases, such as muscular dystrophy. Importantly, zebrafish embryos are transparent, so we can easily observe their muscles developing. Researchers can use zebrafish to confirm the identity of genes which can cause neuromuscular conditions and they can also increase our understanding of how a certain gene affects the structure and function of the muscles. Finally, the embryos can be used to look for drugs which may prevent or slow the progression of a disease.

From Neil at MDC Research.