Sleep and its regulation in zebrafish
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Irina V. Zhdanova
Abstract
The function of sleep remains a central enigma of modern biology, in spite of the obvious importance of sleep for normal physiology and cognition. The zebrafish has emerged as a promising new model for studying sleep, its changes with age, and the impact of sleep alterations on cognitive function. Recent studies of this diurnal vertebrate have provided new insights into the dual role of the pineal hormone melatonin and its receptors, regulating sleep in diurnal vertebrates through both homeostatic and circadian mechanisms. Research in zebrafish has also revealed interactions between melatonin and the hypocretin/orexin system, another important sleep-wake modulator. Future investigations should benefit from the conservation in zebrafish of mechanisms that regulate normal sleep, our extensive knowledge of their molecular biology, the availability of multiple transgenic and mutant phenotypes, and the feasibility of applying sensitive in vivo imaging techniques to record sleep-related neuronal activity in these optically transparent subjects. The established sensitivity of zebrafish to many pharmacological hypnotics should also contribute to the development of new, safe and effective sleep medications.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
Articles in the same Issue
- Publisher's Note
- A new start for Reviews in the Neurosciences
- Guest Editorial
- A small fish with a big future: zebrafish in behavioral neuroscience
- Application of zebrafish oculomotor behavior to model human disorders
- Shoaling in zebrafish: what we don’t know
- Sleep and its regulation in zebrafish
- Zebrafish behavioural assays of translational relevance for the study of psychiatric disease
- Stressing zebrafish for behavioral genetics
- Imaging escape and avoidance behavior in zebrafish larvae
- Zebrafish assessment of cognitive improvement and anxiolysis: filling the gap between in vitro and rodent models for drug development
- Alcohol-induced behavior change in zebrafish models
- Zebrafish models to study drug abuse-related phenotypes
- The role of dopaminergic signalling during larval zebrafish brain development: a tool for investigating the developmental basis of neuropsychiatric disorders
- Let there be light: zebrafish neurobiology and the optogenetic revolution
Articles in the same Issue
- Publisher's Note
- A new start for Reviews in the Neurosciences
- Guest Editorial
- A small fish with a big future: zebrafish in behavioral neuroscience
- Application of zebrafish oculomotor behavior to model human disorders
- Shoaling in zebrafish: what we don’t know
- Sleep and its regulation in zebrafish
- Zebrafish behavioural assays of translational relevance for the study of psychiatric disease
- Stressing zebrafish for behavioral genetics
- Imaging escape and avoidance behavior in zebrafish larvae
- Zebrafish assessment of cognitive improvement and anxiolysis: filling the gap between in vitro and rodent models for drug development
- Alcohol-induced behavior change in zebrafish models
- Zebrafish models to study drug abuse-related phenotypes
- The role of dopaminergic signalling during larval zebrafish brain development: a tool for investigating the developmental basis of neuropsychiatric disorders
- Let there be light: zebrafish neurobiology and the optogenetic revolution
