Zebrafish: A Powerful Model in Neuroscience to Investigate Genes, Brain Mechanisms, and Behavior
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 8
Special Issue Editors
Interests: brain circuits; neurobiology; neuroscience; zebrafish
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: zebrafish; CRISPR/Cas9; transgenic lines; biosensors; endothelial cells; extracellular matrix; genetic mutant for human disease modelling; xenografts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: neurobiology; neuroscience; model organisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Understanding the genes, brain architectures, and circuit mechanisms determining animal behaviour is a quest involving different approaches and expertise. Genetics, psychology, mathematics, computer sciences, biology, and physics are contributing together to extend the research perspective and the tools available to investigate an organism in physiological as well as pathology-associated conditions. In this scenario, zebrafish have become a powerful vertebrate model organism for neuroscience research. This represents an excellent translational approach through which evolutionarily ancient, and thus fundamentally important, mechanisms of complex mammalian (and human) biological phenomena may be studied. Their externally developing and transparent embryos allow the real-time observation of neural system formation and function using advanced imaging techniques. With a fully sequenced genome, genetic manipulation techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 enable the generation of both genetic and transgenic zebrafish lines to study gene involvement in the formation of the neuronal circuits and their information processing capabilities.
Importantly, zebrafish display diverse behaviors, either innate or sensory-driven, involved in social interactions and sensory–motor transformations, offering a reliable and quantitative readout of the gene impact or of the circuit functionality.
Zebrafish currently offer unique advantages for both basic and translational neuroscience. This Special Issue will discuss the significance of zebrafish as an animal model to study neurological disorders. We welcome original research articles and reviews that use zebrafish to investigate the nervous system, encompassing areas such as neurodevelopment, neurodegeneration, and behavioural neuroscience, as well as analysis and experimental methods supporting this type of research.
Dr. Marco Dal Maschio
Dr. Nicola Facchinello
Dr. Maria Elena Miletto Petrazzini
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- zebrafish
- behavioural neuroscience
- neurodevelopment
- neurodegeneration
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