Zebrafish on the Brain
- Published22 Jan 2019
- Reviewed22 Jan 2019
- Author Michael W. Richardson
- Source BrainFacts/SfN
![Image of zebrafish in purple and green](https://www.brainfacts.org/-/media/Brainfacts2/In-the-Lab/Animals-in-Research/IOTW-Zebrafish-on-the-Brain.png)
Researchers studying the brain love zebrafish. Their embryos are clear, making them easy to observe, and their brains develop very quickly. What’s more, scientists have sequenced the entire zebrafish genome — by knowing which genes do what, scientists can tinker with the genetic blueprint to model a host of neurological conditions from depression to autism spectrum disorders. Not bad for such a small fish. In the above image of a four-day old zebrafish, scientists have highlighted neural tracts — bundles of axons that carry signals across the brain — in green. They’ve also isolated neruopil (magenta), a dense jungle of axon terminals and dendrites — the site of cellular connections and the place where individual cells form the circuits that define all brain activity.
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