Zebrafish: an emerging model of vascular development and remodelling

The zebrafish has attracted interest from both the scientific and general press owing to its transition from a model of developmental biology to a tool for biomedical and preclinical studies. In this brief review, we summarise the advantages of a unique model organism and outline some of its recent contributions to the understanding of vascular development and remodelling.

► Zebrafish are small, cheap, and easy to maintain.
► Zebrafish embryos develop independently, are transparent and extremely genetically tractable.
► Transgenic zebrafish allow in vivo vascular imaging that outclasses other models.
► Angiogenesis is well-conserved; insights from zebrafish are relevant to humans.