Abstract

USE OF ZEBRAFISH TO STUDY HUMAN DISEASES

Chavan Rashmi*¹, Smita Patil ¹, Amit Dhankani¹, H. P. Suryawanshi¹, S. P. Pawar¹

P.S.G.V.P.M’S College of Pharmacy, shahada, Maharashtra, India.

ABSTRACT

Zebrafish are small freshwater fish, the only vertebrate model in which a large-scale mutagenesis strategy has been undertaken as an approach to the study of the development of blood and vital organs. The development of techniques for gene mapping in zebra fish and the anticipated completion of the zebra fish genome sequencing project in 2002 will enhance the use of zebra fish as models for human diseases. e.g. alcoholism. Although genetic tools to manipulate the genome of zebra fish are available, appropriate phenotypical testing methods are often lacking. In this paper, we describe basic behavioral tests to investigate the acute effects of alcohol on zebra fish. These behavioral changes will be useful for the genetic and biological analysis of acute and chronic drug effects as well as addiction. In addition to presenting findings for the acute effects of alcohol, we briefly describe our strategy for generating and screening mutants. We hope that our pilot work will facilitate the future development of behavioral tests and the use of zebra fish in the genetic analysis of the biological effects of drugs of abuse. Zebrafish are at the forefront of neurobiological research and have been gaining popularity as a viable and valid behavioral model in a variety of research applications. This model becomes even more attractive when considering the behavioral changes that follow exposure to compounds that are water-soluble. In this review, we compare and contrast several studies that measure behavior as a result of alcohol exposure. Appended to this review are pilot data that report zebrafish blood alcohol concentrations as a function of acute exposure.

Keywords: Zebrafish, vertebrate, mutagenesis, neurobiological.