Zebrafish: A Research Paradigm for Studying Human Diseases

Animal models are essential for evaluating new drugs and therapeutic targets in drug discovery and development. Today, animal models are often used for the screening of novel drugs. The animal model serves to simplify complex human problems by reducing them to their most basic forms, allowing for the inclusion of the experimental procedure. Rodents, such as rats and mice, are the most potent research models and unquestionably the optimal animals for researching numerous human diseases. However, the current research is increasingly focused on using aquatic animals as model species, particularly zebrafish. The zebrafish is becoming a popular research model for studying numerous human diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, rhinitis, and kidney diseases, and is being used to screen new drugs. The zebrafish is a tiny freshwater fish of the minnow family. Nevertheless, it possesses numerous advantages compared to alternative mouse models, including cost-effectiveness, simplicity of upkeep, simplicity of genetic manipulation, and swift embryonic development. These characteristics make the zebrafish an excellent experimental animal. The zebrafish genome has been completely sequenced and is recognized to exhibit a significant portion of its genome in common with humans. In addition, it is also used in several research fields such as genetics, drug discovery, developmental biology, aquaculture research, cryobiology research, and toxicity research. This paper emphasized the importance of zebrafish as an experimental model for studying several human diseases.