HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by McGonnell, I M Articles by Fowkes, R C Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by McGonnell, I M Articles by Fowkes, R C

Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Royal College Street, London NW1 0TU, UK

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to I M McGonnell; Email: imcgonnell{at}rvc.ac.uk)

The use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in scientific research is growing rapidly. It initially became popular as a model of vertebrate development because zebrafish embryos develop rapidly and are transparent. In the past 5 years, the sequencing of the zebrafish genome has increased the profile of zebrafish research even further, expanding into other areas such as pharmacology, cancer research and drug discovery. The use of zebrafish in endocrine research has mainly been confined to the study of the development of endocrine organs. However, it is likely to be a useful model in other areas of endocrinology, as there are a wide variety of both forward and reverse genetic techniques that can be employed in the zebrafish to decipher gene function in disease states. In this review, we compare the endocrine system of the zebrafish to mouse and human, demonstrating that the systems are sufficiently similar for zebrafish to be employed as a model for endocrine research. We subsequently review the repertoire of genetic techniques commonly employed in the zebrafish model to understand gene function in vertebrate development and disease. We anticipate that the use of these techniques will make the zebrafish a prominent model in endocrine research in the coming years.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Xie, W.-Q. Wang, T.-X. Liu, M. Deng, and G. Ning Spatio-temporal expression of chromogranin A during zebrafish embryogenesis J. Endocrinol., September 1, 2008; 198(3): 451 - 458. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Hoshijima and S. Hirose Expression of endocrine genes in zebrafish larvae in response to environmental salinity J. Endocrinol., June 1, 2007; 193(3): 481 - 491. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]