Zebrafish: A Versatile Animal Model for Fertility Research

Abstract

The utilization of zebrafish in biomedical research is very common in the research world nowadays. Today, it has emerged as a favored vertebrate organism for the research in science of reproduction. There is a significant growth in amount numbers of scientific literature pertaining to research discoveries in reproductive sciences in zebrafish. It has implied the importance of zebrafish in this particular field of research. In essence, the current available literature has covered from the very specific brain region or neurons of zebrafish, which are responsible for reproductive regulation, until the gonadal level of the animal. The discoveries and findings have proven that this small animal is sharing a very close/similar reproductive system with mammals. More interestingly, the behavioral characteristics and along with the establishment of animal courtship behavior categorization in zebrafish have laid an even stronger foundation and firmer reason on the suitability of zebrafish utilization in research of reproductive sciences. In view of the immense importance of this small animal for the development of reproductive sciences, this review aimed at compiling and describing the proximate close similarity of reproductive regulation on zebrafish and human along with factors contributing to the infertility, showing its versatility and its potential usage for fertility research.

Evaluation of Tramadol Hydrochloride Toxicity to Juvenile Zebrafish—Morphological, Antioxidant and Histological Responses

“…Zebrafish (Danio rerio), at the age of 30 days, were chosen as the model organism for our study. This model organism belongs to the one of the most commonly used model species [29][30][31][32][33].…”

Glucocorticoids and Reproduction: Traffic Control on the Road to Reproduction

“…In both zebrafish models, disruption to GR signaling alters embryo development and adult physiology, although assessment of fertility was not reported. Zebrafish offer a promising alternative model for studying glucocorticoid signaling in the reproductive tract [76]. New gene editing techniques will expand our understanding of glucocorticoid signaling through the ability to insert, delete, or replace DNA at precise regions of the genome and enable researchers to use other experimental animal models (Box 4).…”

Acute toxicity effect of glyphosate on survival rate of common carp, Cyprinus carpio

“…The use of herbicides such as glyphosate in addition to the destruction of macrophytes may affect non-target organisms such as common carp through destruction of habitats and food (31,32). For example Zebrafish, Danio rerio, needs a substrate full of plants for spawning and reproduction (33), so the pollutants may have negative effects on breeding of this species through the destruction of non-target aquatic plants. There is limited information about the toxicity of glyphosate.…”