Zebrafish: A Model Deciphering the Impact of Flavonoids on Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract

Over the past century, advances in biotechnology, biochemistry, and pharmacognosy have spotlighted flavonoids, polyphenolic secondary metabolites that have the ability to modulate many pathways involved in various biological mechanisms, including those involved in neuronal plasticity, learning, and memory. Moreover, flavonoids are known to impact the biological processes involved in developing neurodegenerative diseases, namely oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Thus, several flavonoids could be used as adjuvants to prevent and counteract neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Zebrafish is an interesting model organism that can offer new opportunities to study the beneficial effects of flavonoids on neurodegenerative diseases. Indeed, the high genome homology of 70% to humans, the brain organization largely similar to the human brain as well as the similar neuroanatomical and neurochemical processes, and the high neurogenic activity maintained in the adult brain makes zebrafish a valuable model for the study of human neurodegenerative diseases and deciphering the impact of flavonoids on those disorders.

The alleviative effect of Calendula officinalis L. extract against Parkinson’s disease-like pathology in zebrafish via the involvement of autophagy activation

“…The role of flavonoid in protecting against neurodegenerative disease has been increasingly recognized ( Bakhtiari et al, 2017 ; Prasanna and Upadhyay, 2021 ; Mhalhel et al, 2023 ), and thus we chose flavonoid as the primary active components of ECoL for further anti-PD study. The flavonoid compounds in ECoL were identified by using the targeted HPLC-Q-TOF-MS. As a result, 5 kinds of total 203 compounds were detected, which consist of 121 flavones and flavonols, 32 flavanones, 22 isoflavonoids, 11 chalcones and dihydrochalcones, and 17 anthocyanins ( Supplementary Table 2 ).…”

DNA Tetrahedral Nanocages as a Promising Nanocarrier for Dopamine Delivery in Neurological Disorders

“…62,63 The zebrafish genome shares 70% of our genetic makeup, making it a superior in vivo model for studying how different biological substances are absorbed. 64 Our previous study showed that TD did not cause any alterations in the survival rate and hatching success of developing zebrafish embryos. 65 Study also demonstrated a significant uptake of DNA-TD compared to other geometries of DNA nanocages.…”

Adult Neurogenesis of Teleost Fish Determines High Neuronal Plasticity and Regeneration

“…Zebrafish has a high neurogenic and regenerative potential and is thus a well-established experimental model of choice for studying neural stem cells and neurodegenerative diseases [1,2,11,17,20,21]. Therefore, we review the cellular and molecular aspects of the neurogenic potential of zebrafish radial glia, and then compare them with those of mammalian radial and astroglia.…”

“…In contrast to mammalian models, the fish brain is considered to be a preferred vertebrate model for expanding our understanding of the cellular and molecular programs required for successful CNS regeneration [2,10]. In adult zebrafish, regeneration of the brain and spinal cord is driven by the presence of a variety of neural stem cells (NSCs) including, but not limited to, slowly and rapidly proliferating radial glia and neuroepithelial cells [11,12]. However, the full reparative potential of such cell populations, the set of neuronal lineages they can produce, and their intrinsic regulation in different stem cell niches remain unclear.…”