Transparent vertebrate model organisms

Zebrafish

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have emerged as a premier model organism for studying developing vertebrate behavior and physiology. Their unique optical transparency during early developmental stages allows for unparalleled visualization of internal structures and cellular processes. By leveraging fluorescent sensors expressed in specific cell types, researchers can non-invasively record dynamic biological activity in vivo using advanced fluorescence microscopy. This combination of genetic tractability, transparency, and compatibility with modern imaging techniques makes zebrafish an indispensable tool in developmental biology, neuroscience, and disease modeling. In 2013, the Ahrens et. al. developed whole-brain imaging in zebrafish, enabling simultaneous recording of neural activity across the entire brain^1,².

Whole brain imaging of young zebrafish (Vladimirov et al. 2014).

Danionella

Danionella is an emerging model organism that offers many of the advantages as zebrafish but critically, remains transparent into adulthood (³.

References

1. Whole-brain functional imaging at cellular resolution using light-sheet microscopy, Nature Methods, 2013, Ahrens, Misha B. and Orger, Michael B. and Robson, Drew N. and Li, Jennifer M. and Keller, Philipp J.

2. Light-sheet functional imaging in fictively behaving zebrafish, Nature Methods, 2014, Vladimirov, Nikita and Mu, Yu and Kawashima, Takashi and Bennett, Davis V and Yang, Chao-Tsung and Looger, Loren L and Keller, Philipp J and Freeman, Jeremy and Ahrens, Misha B

3. Transparent {Danionella} translucida as a genetically tractable vertebrate brain model, Nature Methods, 2018, Schulze, Lisanne and Henninger, Jörg and Kadobianskyi, Mykola and Chaigne, Thomas and Faustino, Ana Isabel and Hakiy, Nahid and Albadri, Shahad and Schuelke, Markus and Maler, Leonard and Del Bene, Filippo and Judkewitz, Benjamin