The Rise of Zebrafish as a Model for Toxicology

Extract

The emergence of the zebrafish model for biomedical research has it origins in the 1960s largely as a result of the pioneering work of George Streisinger and others at the University of Oregon. Their systematic efforts determined the conditions necessary to adopt this new model for laboratory environments and established the foundational techniques for genetic manipulations and imaging that were critical to expand the imaginations of the next generation of scientists. For the next nearly 30 years, the vast majority of global zebrafish research efforts focused on understanding the processes of normal vertebrate embryonic development. The use of forward and reverse genetics coupled with careful in situ hybridization methodologies dominated the field as it became possible to elucidate vertebrate gene functions in the transparent early life stage zebrafish at an unprecedented speed and economy. These somewhat esoteric basic biological pursuits of the 1980s and 90s demonstrated the potential of this model for biomedical science, but it was the mounting recognition that zebrafish share genetic, cellular, anatomical, and physiological similarities with mammals that ignited an explosion of interest in exploiting zebrafish for human disease related research. Through a number of strategic investments beginning in the 1990s, the National Institutes of Health supported the development of tools to further accelerate the use of zebrafish to discover the cause of, and to develop treatments for, human diseases. The continued and accelerated acceptance of zebrafish is truly impressive.