Mitochondria as targets for toxicity and metabolism research using zebrafish

Abstract Background The study of mitochondrial functions in zebrafish was initiated before the 1990s and has effectively supported many of the recent scientific advances in the functional studies of mitochondria. Scope of review This work elaborates various peculiarities and general advances in the study of mitochondria using this animal model. Major conclusions The inclusion of zebrafish models in scientific research was initiated with structural studies of mitochondria. Then, toxicological studies involving chemical compounds were undertaken. Currently, there is a decisive tendency to use zebrafish to understand how chemicals impair mitochondrial bioenergetics. Zebrafish modeling has been fruitful for the analysis of ion homeostasis, especially for Ca2+ transport, since zebrafish and mammals have the same set of Ca2+ transporters and mitochondrial membrane microdomains. Based on zebrafish embryo studies, our understanding of ROS generation has also led to new insights. General significance For the study of mitochondria, a new era was begun with the inclusion of zebrafish in bioenergetics research.