Why fish research?
The zebrafish is a commonly used model organism in the biological sciences, similar to the mouse or rat. Zebrafish can grow to 4-5 cm and are easily handled in aquatic systems. Since their discovery for use in research in Prague in the 1980’s, this fish has been established in many laboratories worldwide. The generation time of the zebrafish, from embryo to a breeding adult fish, is very short. Due to their transparent nature, developing Zebrafish embryos are very well suited for imaging purposes. There are very strict rules you have to follow if you want to work with laboratorial animals. There are many disease models in fish which help scientists to understand human disorders. Examples are: Cancer and cardiovascular research, tissue regeneration, neurobiology, pain, aging, pharmocology, cell biology and system biology.
Zebrafish as a model organism
In the context of the „Conference about the European Scientific landscape“ Zebrafish scientists of the European Zebrafish Ressource Center (EZRC) presented the advantages of zebrafish in biomedical science. More
Tissue Regeneration
Adult zebrafish are able to regenerate organs in a way humans can only dream off. A dissected spinal cord or a damaged optical nerve can regenerate with total restoration of function. More
Neurobiology
Vision is our gateway to perceive the world around us. This is made possible by specialized cells in the eye that convert light into a biological signal that can be interpreted by the brain. More
Behavirol studies
Some labs´ goal is to understand the fundamental principles underlying the function of brain circuits in health and disease. More
Disease models and signal transduction
In multicellular organisms, like humans or the zebrafish, cells are the smallest organizational unit. Within the cell, the nucleus lies with our genetic material included. Depending on the cell type the genetic material is expressed differently which leads to a different kind of protein composition within each cell.
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Legal aspects and animal experiments
Zebrafish is an excellent biological model for scientific investigation of numerous human diseases. However, the use of Zebrafish as experimental model requires an authorisation of the local competent authorities.
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