More Zebrafish Research
Posted by Shari Horowitz in Tropical Fish Hobbyist Blog on September 2, 2011 at 5:45 am
Zebra danio _Danio rerio_. Photograph by Oliver Lucanus.
By David E. Boruchowitz
One of the most popular mainstays of the aquarium hobby is the zebrafish Danio rerio. This species is also one of the most popular lab animals, and research on an enormous variety of scientific and medical topics have depended on these hardy, prolific fish.
And once again they have provided medically-significant data. Researchers have just published a study in which the fish were used to help model melanocyte differentiation—the way in which precursor stem cells differentiate into pigment cells in the fish’s skin. Understanding how this occurs could very well provide insights into the formation of melanomas (pigment cell cancer of the skin).
A summary of the article is at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110901171248.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 and you can read the original study at: http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1002265
