Zebrafish models of sarcopenia

Disease Models & Mechanisms

Alon Daya¹  David Karasik²  Rajashekar Donaka² 

[1] The Faculty of Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Michmoret 40297, Israel;The Musculoskeletal Genetics Laboratory, The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed 130010, Israel;

关键词: zebrafish;    sarcopenia;    aging;    genome;    gwas;    muscle disease;    imaging;   

DOI  :  10.1242/dmm.042689

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Sarcopenia – the accelerated age-related loss of muscle mass and function – is an under-diagnosed condition, and is central to deteriorating mobility, disability and frailty in older age. There is a lack of treatment options for older adults at risk of sarcopenia. Although sarcopenia's pathogenesis is multifactorial, its major phenotypes – muscle mass and muscle strength – are highly heritable. Several genome-wide association studies of muscle-related traits were published recently, providing dozens of candidate genes, many with unknown function. Therefore, animal models are required not only to identify causal mechanisms, but also to clarify the underlying biology and translate this knowledge into new interventions. Over the past several decades, small teleost fishes had emerged as powerful systems for modeling the genetics of human diseases. Owing to their amenability to rapid genetic intervention and the large number of conserved genetic and physiological features, small teleosts – such as zebrafish, medaka and killifish – have become indispensable for skeletal muscle genomic studies. The goal of this Review is to summarize evidence supporting the utility of small fish models for accelerating our understanding of human skeletal muscle in health and disease. We do this by providing a basic foundation of the (zebra)fish skeletal muscle morphology and physiology, and evidence of muscle-related gene homology. We also outline challenges in interpreting zebrafish mutant phenotypes and in translating them to human disease. Finally, we conclude with recommendations on future directions to leverage the large body of tools developed in small fish for the needs of genomic exploration in sarcopenia.

【 授权许可】

Unknown