Biomaterial Database

Mitophagy and neurodegeneration: the zebrafish model system. 2013

Kim Wager, and Claire Russell

Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences; The Royal Veterinary College; University of London; London, UK; Department of Pharmacology; University College London School of Pharmacy; London, UK.

Autophagy is responsible for the degradation of cytoplasmic components and organelles such as mitochondria. The selective degradation of damaged mitochondria by autophagy is termed mitophagy, and is an important quality control mechanism. Neurons, being highly specialized cells, are particularly susceptible to defects of autophagy. Impairments in mitochondrial function and their dynamics are present in many neurodegenerative diseases, and modulators of both mitochondrial physiology and autophagy present themselves as promising therapeutic targets. Zebrafish are now established as a valuable tool for disease modeling. A wide variety of genetic and molecular techniques can be employed to highlight pathogenic processes and dissect disease pathways. This review will explore the role that zebrafish have so far played in our understanding of mitophagy in neurodegeneration, and will discuss how they might be used to drive the wider mitophagy field forward.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009410	Nerve Degeneration	Loss of functional activity and trophic degeneration of nerve axons and their terminal arborizations following the destruction of their cells of origin or interruption of their continuity with these cells. The pathology is characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases. Often the process of nerve degeneration is studied in research on neuroanatomical localization and correlation of the neurophysiology of neural pathways.	Neuron Degeneration,Degeneration, Nerve,Degeneration, Neuron,Degenerations, Nerve,Degenerations, Neuron,Nerve Degenerations,Neuron Degenerations
D004195	Disease Models, Animal	Naturally-occurring or experimentally-induced animal diseases with pathological processes analogous to human diseases.	Animal Disease Model,Animal Disease Models,Disease Model, Animal
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D015027	Zebrafish	An exotic species of the family CYPRINIDAE, originally from Asia, that has been introduced in North America. Zebrafish is a model organism for drug assay and cancer research.	Brachydanio rerio,Danio rerio,B. rerio,D. rerio,Zebra Fish,Zebra Fishes,Zebra danio,Zebrafishes,D. rerios,Fishes, Zebra,Zebra danios,danio, Zebra
D018384	Oxidative Stress	A disturbance in the prooxidant-antioxidant balance in favor of the former, leading to potential damage. Indicators of oxidative stress include damaged DNA bases, protein oxidation products, and lipid peroxidation products (Sies, Oxidative Stress, 1991, pxv-xvi).	Anti-oxidative Stress,Antioxidative Stress,DNA Oxidative Damage,Nitro-Oxidative Stress,Oxidative Cleavage,Oxidative DNA Damage,Oxidative Damage,Oxidative Injury,Oxidative Nitrative Stress,Oxidative Stress Injury,Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress,Stress, Oxidative,Anti oxidative Stress,Anti-oxidative Stresses,Antioxidative Stresses,Cleavage, Oxidative,DNA Damage, Oxidative,DNA Oxidative Damages,Damage, DNA Oxidative,Damage, Oxidative,Damage, Oxidative DNA,Injury, Oxidative,Injury, Oxidative Stress,Nitrative Stress, Oxidative,Nitro Oxidative Stress,Nitro-Oxidative Stresses,Oxidative Cleavages,Oxidative DNA Damages,Oxidative Damage, DNA,Oxidative Damages,Oxidative Injuries,Oxidative Nitrative Stresses,Oxidative Stress Injuries,Oxidative Stresses,Stress Injury, Oxidative,Stress, Anti-oxidative,Stress, Antioxidative,Stress, Nitro-Oxidative,Stress, Oxidative Nitrative,Stresses, Nitro-Oxidative
D024101	Mitochondrial Proteins	Proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome or proteins encoded by the nuclear genome that are imported to and resident in the MITOCHONDRIA.	Proteins, Mitochondrial,Mitochondrial Protein,Protein, Mitochondrial
D063306	Mitophagy	Proteolytic breakdown of the MITOCHONDRIA via autophagy.	Mitochondrial Degradation