Zebrafish Models: From Basic Research to Translational Medicine

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular and Translational Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 468

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Georgia Cancer Center, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
Interests: zebrafish model organism in health prevention, preservation, and treatment; zebrafish transparent transgenic cellular phenotype development and applications; experimental therapeutics; high throughput drug discovery; identification of hit and lead drugs; repurposing of FDA-approved drugs in disease treatment and prevention; genomics; tumor microenvironment; pharmacogenomics; drug-induced toxicity; glioblastoma; microglia pathophysiology; cancer drug-induced cardiotoxicity

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Guest Editor
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
Interests: interventional cardiology; preventative cardiology; cardiovascular thromboinflammatory pathways; coronary microvascular dysfunction; zebrafish cardiovascular disease models; drug-induced cardiotoxicity; vascular biology; pulmonary embolism and venous thromboembolism; mechanical thrombectomy; endovascular interventions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Zebrafish have emerged as a powerful model organism in biomedical research, bridging the gap between basic science and clinical applications. With its high genetic homology to humans, rapid development, transparency, and suitability for high-throughput screening, the zebrafish model offers unique advantages for studying developmental biology, disease mechanisms, drug discovery, and toxicology. In recent decades, zebrafish have made significant contributions to breakthroughs in cancer research, neurobiology, cardiovascular disease, and regenerative medicine.

This Special Issue aims to collate innovative research that demonstrates the utility of zebrafish models in advancing our understanding of human diseases and therapeutic development. The scope of this Special Issue aligns with the journal’s focus on experimental and translational biology, covering molecular mechanisms, disease modeling, drug screening, and biomedical applications. For this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome to be submitted.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and collaborating with you to advance the field of zebrafish biomedical research.

Dr. Surendra Rajpurohit
Prof. Dr. Vishal Arora
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • zebrafish
  • animal models
  • in vivo whole model organism imaging
  • epigenetics
  • physiological and functional discoveries
  • genetic engineered transgenic cellular and mutant phenotype
  • developmental biology
  • drug discovery
  • high-throughput drug screening
  • pharmacogenomics
  • translational research
  • toxicology
  • genomics
  • cardiology
  • cardio-oncology
  • cardiovascular diseases
  • cardio-oncology
  • cancer models
  • melanoma
  • tumor microenvironment
  • dermatology
  • ophthalmology
  • neuroscience
  • aging
  • neurodegenerative disease
  • diabetes
  • kidney disease
  • hematology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 3670 KB  
Article
Amelioration of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology in Zebrafish by Photobiomodulation
by Binnur Eroglu, Daniela Velez, Kimya Jones, Ferenc Deak and Ali Eroglu
Biomedicines 2025, 13(12), 3121; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123121 - 18 Dec 2025
Viewed by 223
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The zebrafish is a widely used research model due to its characteristics, such as being transparent during development, sharing 70% of its genes with humans, and having conserved features of vertebrate aging, including deterioration of mitochondrial and cognitive functions. While affecting [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The zebrafish is a widely used research model due to its characteristics, such as being transparent during development, sharing 70% of its genes with humans, and having conserved features of vertebrate aging, including deterioration of mitochondrial and cognitive functions. While affecting approximately 15% of the world population, neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), are currently incurable, requiring testing of alternative treatment strategies. Hence, this study was conducted to test the hypothesis that an optimized photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy improves AD pathology through its multifaceted beneficial effects, including enhancing mitochondrial function and reducing oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. Methods: A pharmacological zebrafish model of AD was developed by adding small amounts (100 nM) of okadaic acid (OKA) directly to fish tanks for nine days. Next, some of OKA-treated and control zebrafish were subjected to an optimized near-infrared PBM therapy while others remain untreated. Results: When examined after OKA treatment, zebrafish brains displayed histological hallmarks of AD including, neurofibrillary tangles, vacuoles, and neuroinflammation. Behavioral tests using a T-maze revealed that OKA-treated zebrafish spent significantly less time in the reward arm than untreated controls (15.2% vs. 50%). In contrast, a sequential PBM therapy significantly reduced formation of neurofibrillary tangles, vacuoles, neuroinflammation, and improved mitochondrial biogenesis in brains of OKA-treated zebrafish while also improving their cognitive function as evidenced by being able to recall the reward arm and spending more time there similar to controls (55 and 57%, respectively). Conclusions: These findings suggest that (1) a fast, cost-effective zebrafish AD model can be developed using OKA treatment and (2) PBM therapy holds promise to ameliorate AD pathology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zebrafish Models: From Basic Research to Translational Medicine)
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