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The visual system of zebrafish and its use to model human ocular Diseases
Author(s) -
Gestri Gaia,
Link Brian A.,
Neuhauss Stephan C.F.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
developmental neurobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.716
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1932-846X
pISSN - 1932-8451
DOI - 10.1002/dneu.20919
Subject(s) - zebrafish , biology , model system , neuroscience , function (biology) , model organism , cognitive science , evolutionary biology , psychology , computational biology , genetics , gene
Free swimming zebrafish larvae depend mainly on their sense of vision to evade predation and to catch prey. Hence, there is strong selective pressure on the fast maturation of visual function and indeed the visual system already supports a number of visually driven behaviors in the newly hatched larvae. The ability to exploit the genetic and embryonic accessibility of the zebrafish in combination with a behavioral assessment of visual system function has made the zebrafish a popular model to study vision and its diseases. Here, we review the anatomy, physiology, and development of the zebrafish eye as the basis to relate the contributions of the zebrafish to our understanding of human ocular diseases. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 72: 302–327, 2012