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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Zebrafish heart as a model for human cardiac electrophysiology

Matti Vornanen, +1 more
- 26 Jan 2016 - 
- Vol. 10, Iss: 2, pp 101-110
TLDR
More research on molecular basis of cardiac ion channels, and regulation and drug sensitivity of the cardiac ionic currents are needed to enable rational use of the zebrafish heart as an electrophysiological model for the human heart.
Abstract
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model for human cardiac diseases and pharmacology including cardiac arrhythmias and its electrophysiological basis. Notably, the phenotype of zebrafish cardiac action potential is similar to the human cardiac action potential in that both have a long plateau phase. Also the major inward and outward current systems are qualitatively similar in zebrafish and human hearts. However, there are also significant differences in ionic current composition between human and zebrafish hearts, and the molecular basis and pharmacological properties of human and zebrafish cardiac ionic currents differ in several ways. Cardiac ionic currents may be produced by non-orthologous genes in zebrafish and humans, and paralogous gene products of some ion channels are expressed in the zebrafish heart. More research on molecular basis of cardiac ion channels, and regulation and drug sensitivity of the cardiac ionic currents are needed to enable rational use of the zebrafish heart as an electrophysiological model for the human heart.

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Citations
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Polyaromatic hydrocarbons in pollution: a heart‐breaking matter

TL;DR: The aim is to show conservation of toxicant pathways and cellular targets across vertebrate hearts to allow a broad framework of the global problem of cardiotoxic pollution to be established.
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The temperature dependence of electrical excitability in fish hearts.

TL;DR: At the extremes of environmental temperature, electrical excitability of the heart and other excitable tissues may set limits to temperature tolerance of fishes and other ectotherms.
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BDNF, Brain, and Regeneration: Insights from Zebrafish.

TL;DR: The potential of the zebrafish brain as a valuable model to add new insights on future BDNF studies is highlighted and the available literature regarding BDNF in the vertebrate brain and the potential involvement in telencephalic regeneration after injury is reviewed.
Book ChapterDOI

The Zebrafish Heart as a Model of Mammalian Cardiac Function

TL;DR: 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 are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

On zebrafish disease models and matters of the heart

TL;DR: Recent studies conducted on cardiovascular research focusing on the benefits of the combination of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with functional genomic analysis in zebrafish are highlighted.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

The zebrafish reference genome sequence and its relationship to the human genome.

Kerstin Howe, +174 more
- 25 Apr 2013 - 
TL;DR: A high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome is generated, made up of an overlapping set of completely sequenced large-insert clones that were ordered and oriented using a high-resolution high-density meiotic map, providing a clearer understanding of key genomic features such as a unique repeat content, a scarcity of pseudogenes, an enrichment of zebra fish-specific genes on chromosome 4 and chromosomal regions that influence sex determination.
Journal ArticleDOI

A mechanistic link between an inherited and an acquird cardiac arrthytmia: HERG encodes the IKr potassium channel

TL;DR: The finding that HERG encodes IKr channels provides a mechanistic link between certain forms of inherited and acquired LQT, and that an additional subunit may be required for drug sensitivity.
Journal ArticleDOI

Animal models of human disease: zebrafish swim into view.

TL;DR: This Review surveys the achievements and potential of zebrafish for modelling human diseases and for drug discovery and development.
Journal ArticleDOI

Inwardly Rectifying Potassium Channels: Their Structure, Function, and Physiological Roles

TL;DR: The crystal structure of different Kir channels is opening the way to understanding the structure-function relationships of this simple but diverse ion channel family.
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