Zebrafish as a model to understand autophagy and its role in neurological disease.

ABSTRACT: In the past decade, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model system for the study of vertebrate development, since the embryos and larvae of this species are small, transparent and undergo rapid development ex utero, allowing in vivo analysis of embryogenesis and organogenesis. These characteristics can also be exploited by researchers interested in signaling pathways and disease processes and, accordingly, there is a growing literature on the use of zebrafish to model human disease. This model holds great potential for exploring how autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for protein degradation, influences the pathogeneses of a range of different human diseases and for the evaluation of this pathway as a potential therapeutic strategy. Here we summarize what is kno

SUBMITTER: Fleming A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3060341 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature