title: Zebrafish as an emerging model for studying complex brain disorders.
abstract: The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is rapidly becoming a popular model organism in pharmacogenetics and neuropharmacology. Both larval and adult zebrafish are currently used to increase our understanding of brain function, dysfunction, and their genetic and pharmacological modulation. Here we review the developing utility of zebrafish in the analysis of complex brain disorders (including, e.g., depression, autism, psychoses, drug abuse, and cognitive deficits), also covering zebrafish applications towards the goal of modeling major human neuropsychiatric and drug-induced syndromes. We argue that zebrafish models of complex brain disorders and drug-induced conditions are a rapidly emerging critical field in translational neuroscience and pharmacology research.
authors.affiliation: ZENEREI Institute and the International Zebrafish Neuroscience Research Consortium (ZNRC), 309 Palmer Court, Slidell, LA 70458, USA. Electronic address: avkalueff@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Allan V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kalueff
authors.affiliation: ZENEREI Institute and the International 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.
authors.forename: Adam Michael
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gerlai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015027:Zebrafish
keywords: behavioral tests; brain disorders; translational research; zebrafish