Visakhapatnam: It has the capacity to heal its own cardiovascular system and so, zebrafish is now in the spotlight for study of its cardiac regeneration process. For example, if a ventricle of the zebra fish is damaged or forcibly removed for study, the fish can grow it back.
From studying the zebrafish (given that their embryos are transparent) heart cycle in 3D to finding a cure for heart failure and experimenting with drugs for abnormal rhythms, the zebrafish is expected to help researchers in finding out how various drugs can cure cardiovascular diseases.
Zebrafish are also widely studied to investigate the role of genes in cardiovascular development and disease occurrence through gene manipulation. Researchers believe that the fish can act as a platform for large-scale screening of active cardiovascular substances.
Karthik Maddula, of DPBIT, Hyderabad, said, “The development of the zebrafish's cardiovascular system has been thoroughly studied.”
