ZENEREI Institute and Zebrafish Neuroscience Research Consortium (ZNRC), 309 Palmer Court, Slidell, LA 70458, USA; Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, A210 Langley Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, 415 Lane Road, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Apr 3;50:27-36. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2013.11.014. Epub 2013 Dec 6.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder with complex symptoms and unclear, multi-factorial pathogenesis. Animal (rodent) models of ASD-like behavior are extensively used to study genetics, circuitry and molecular mechanisms of ASD. The evolutionarily conserved nature of social behavior and its molecular pathways suggests that alternative experimental models can be developed to complement and enhance the existing rodent ASD paradigms. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is rapidly becoming a popular model organism in neuroscience and biological psychiatry to study brain function, model human brain disorders and explore their genetic or pharmacological modulation. Representing highly social animals, zebrafish emerge as a strong potential model organism to study normal and pathological social phenotypes, as well as several other ASD-like symptoms. Here, we discuss the developing utility of zebrafish in modeling ASD as a new emerging field in translational neuroscience and drug discovery.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种严重的神经发育障碍，具有复杂的症状和不明的、多因素的发病机制。自闭症样行为的动物（啮齿动物）模型被广泛用于研究 ASD 的遗传学、回路和分子机制。社会行为及其分子途径的进化保守性表明，可以开发替代的实验模型来补充和增强现有的啮齿动物 ASD 范式。斑马鱼（Danio rerio）在神经科学和生物精神病学领域迅速成为一种流行的模式生物，用于研究大脑功能、模拟人类大脑疾病并探索其遗传或药理学调节。作为高度社会性的动物，斑马鱼成为研究正常和病理性社会表型以及其他几种自闭症样症状的强大潜在模式生物。在这里，我们讨论了斑马鱼在自闭症模型中的新兴应用，这是转化神经科学和药物发现领域的一个新领域。
