The Zebrafish Heart as a Model of Mammalian Cardiac Function

Abstract

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are widely used as vertebrate model in developmental genetics and functional genomics as well as in cardiac structure-function studies. The zebrafish heart has been increasingly used as a model of human cardiac function, in part, due to the similarities in heart rate and action potential duration and morphology with respect to humans. The teleostian zebrafish is in many ways a compelling model of human cardiac function due to the clarity afforded by its ease of genetic manipulation, the wealth of developmental biological information, and inherent suitability to a variety of experimental techniques. However, in addition to the numerous advantages of the zebrafish system are also caveats related to gene duplication (resulting in paralogs not present in human or other mammals) and fundamental differences in how zebrafish hearts function. In this review, we discuss the use of zebrafish as a cardiac function model through the use of techniques such as echocardiography, optical mapping, electrocardiography, molecular investigations of excitation-contraction coupling, and their physiological implications relative to that of the human heart. While some of these techniques (e.g., echocardiography) are particularly challenging in the zebrafish because of diminutive size of the heart (~1.5 mm in diameter) critical information can be derived from these approaches and are discussed in detail in this article.

Incorporation of Nonyl 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoate Into Nanostructured Lipid Systems: Effective Alternative for Maintaining Anti-Dermatophytic and Antibiofilm Activities and Reducing Toxicity at High Concentrations

“…Zebrafish (D. rerio) is a species of conventionally ornamental fish, belonging to the Cyprinidae family and distributed in several countries around the world. In recent years there has been an increase in studies showing that zebrafish is a potential biological model for studies of toxicity and teratogenic effects also in human diseases (Kalueff et al, 2014;Chakraborty et al, 2016;Genge et al, 2016;Morales and Wingert, 2017). This model presents exceptional characteristics for an alternative for in vivo studies, such as easy maintenance, rapid development, high rate of oviposition and fertility, not to mention the transparency of the embryo that allows real-time visualization of changes over time (Chakraborty et al, 2016).…”

Excitation–Contraction Coupling in the Goldfish (Carassius auratus) Intact Heart

“…On the other hand, the relaxation of the Ca 2+ transient depends on multiple factors, such as the binding of Ca 2+ to intracellular Ca 2+ buffers, which usually has a weak temperature dependency. Altogether, it is logical to expect that relaxation will have a smaller temperature dependency than the activation of the Ca 2+ transients ( Genge et al, 2016 ; Rayani et al, 2018 ).…”

Cardiac Rhythm and Molecular Docking Studies of Ion Channel Ligands with Cardiotoxicity in Zebrafish

“…Mammals including humans have four chambers and a double circuit circulation system, while fish only have a single circuit circulation system [13]. Although the number of chambers and circuit circulation system is different, zebrafish and human hearts share some similarities, e.g., basic contractile dynamics and action potential morphology [14]. Zebrafish action potential (AP) shares the main characteristic of human cardiac AP.…”