"Muscling" Throughout Life: Integrating Studies of Muscle Development, Homeostasis, and Disease in Zebrafish.

"Muscling" Throughout Life: Integrating Studies of Muscle Development, Homeostasis, and Disease in Zebrafish. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2017;124:197-234 Authors: Goody MF, Carter EV, Kilroy EA, Maves L, Henry CA Abstract The proper development and function of skeletal muscle is vital for health throughout the lifespan. Skeletal muscle function enables posture, breathing, and locomotion; and also impacts systemic processes-such as metabolism, thermoregulation, and immunity. Diseases of skeletal muscle (myopathies, muscular dystrophies) and even some neurological, age-related, and metabolic diseases compromise muscle function and negatively affect health span and quality of life. There have been numerous, recent examples of studies on skeletal muscle development with exciting, therapeutic implications for muscle diseases. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a vertebrate model organism well accepted for developmental biology and biomedical research and thus an ideal system in which to elucidate the translational implications of mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle development and homeostasis. Muscle fiber types (slow- vs fast-twitch) are spatially segregated in zebrafish allowing for the opportunity to identify distinct mechanisms regulating fiber type specification during development as well as observe fiber type-specific effects in zebrafish models of muscle diseases. Accessible genetics coupled with transparent zebrafish embryos has enabled in ...
Source: Current Topics in Developmental Biology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: Curr Top Dev Biol Source Type: research