Zebrafish as model organism for studying epilepsy

The zebrafish  (Dania rerio) model has become popular for studying epilepsy and even other neurodevelopmental disorders, as they possess certain features that make them ideal for the study of neural circuits. Zebrafish embryos and larvae develop externally and are optically transparent. This makes it easy to monitor the development of major organs as the zebrafish embryos progress from stage to stage (Monesson-Olson et al., 2018). Moreover, larval zebrafish undergo rapid development; sensory and motor systems are present and functional within five days post-fertilization (Monesson-Olson et al., 2018). The ability to generate large clutch sizes of 50-200 embryos adds to the favorability of zebrafish. Zebrafish, as model organisms, also hold great advantage because they have less complex central nervous systems compared to mammals, yet the cell types and mechanisms are conserved among vertebrates. Logistically, their small size and low cost of maintaining large colonies of adult wildtype and mutant fish make the use of zebrafish viable (reviewed by Baraban et al., 2010).