title: The Zebrafish Heart as a Model of Mammalian Cardiac Function.
abstract: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are widely used as vertebrate model in developmental genetics and functional genomics as well as in cardiac structure-function studies. The zebrafish heart has been increasingly used as a model of human cardiac function, in part, due to the similarities in heart rate and action potential duration and morphology with respect to humans. The teleostian zebrafish is in many ways a compelling model of human cardiac function due to the clarity afforded by its ease of genetic manipulation, the wealth of developmental biological information, and inherent suitability to a variety of experimental techniques. However, in addition to the numerous advantages of the zebrafish system are also caveats related to gene duplication (resulting in paralogs not present in human or other mammals) and fundamental differences in how zebrafish hearts function. In this review, we discuss the use of zebrafish as a cardiac function model through the use of techniques such as echocardiography, optical mapping, electrocardiography, molecular investigations of excitation-contraction coupling, and their physiological implications relative to that of the human heart. While some of these techniques (e.g., echocardiography) are particularly challenging in the zebrafish because of diminutive size of the heart (~1.5 mm in diameter) critical information can be derived from these approaches and are discussed in detail in this article.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Genge
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5Z 4H4.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5Z 4H4.
authors.forename: XiaoYe
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Kaveh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rayani
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Marvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gunawan
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.|BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5Z 4H4.
authors.forename: Charles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Alison Yueh
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Sanam Shafaat
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Talab
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Claydon
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6.|Cardiovascular Research Centre CSIC-ICCC, Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Leif
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hove-Madsen
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiac Physiology Group, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6. tibbits@sfu.ca.|BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5Z 4H4. tibbits@sfu.ca.
authors.forename: Glen F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Tibbits
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D004453:Echoencephalography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D056966:Excitation Contraction Coupling / Q000502:physiology; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D023421:Models, Animal; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology; D056969:Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Cardiac electrophysiology; Echocardiography; Electrophysiology; Excitation-contraction coupling; Optical mapping; Phylogeny