Little fish big catch: zebrafish as a model for kidney disease

摘要

The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a relevant vertebrate model for biomedical research and translational studies due to their broad genetic conservation with humans. In recent years, scientists have formulated a growing list of zebrafish kidney disease paradigms, whose study has contributed a multitude of insights into the basic biology of human conditions and even identified potential therapeutic agents. Conversely, there are also distinctive aspects of zebrafish biology lacking in higher vertebrates, such as the capacity to heal without lasting scar formation after tissue damage and the ability to generate nephrons throughout their lifespan, making the zebrafish uniquely suited to study regeneration in the context of the kidney. Here, we review several informative zebrafish models of kidney disease and discuss their future applications in nephrology.