Year: 2016
Type: review
Abstract: Nonmammalian model organisms such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and the zebrafish Danio rerio provide numerous experimental advantages for drug discovery including genetic and molecular tractability, amenability to high-throughput screening methods and reduced experimental costs and increased experimental throughput compared to traditional mammalian models. An interdisciplinary approach that strategically combines the study of nonmammalian and mammalian animal models with diverse experimental tools has and will continue to provide deep molecular and genetic understanding of human disease and will significantly enhance the discovery and application of new therapies to treat those diseases. This review will provide an overview of C. elegans, Drosophila, and zebrafish biology and husbandry and will discuss how these models are being used for phenotype-based drug screening and for identification of drug targets and mechanisms of action. The review will also describe how these and other nonmammalian model organisms are uniquely suited for the discovery of drug-based regenerative medicine therapies.
Source: ILAR Journal
DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilw034
Author: Kevin Strange
Institution: Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G249466046, Comparative Biology of Tissue Repair, Regeneration and Aging, G3419211999, Mechanisms of cellular osmosensing and osmotic stress induced damage repair, Structure-function analysis of the volume-regulated anion channel VRAC using novel LRRC8 chimeras, The Maine Biomedical Research Network (INBRE)
OpenAlex ID: W2567807365