Resident immunity in tissue repair and maintenance: The zebrafish model coming of age

Abstract

The zebrafish has emerged as an exciting vertebrate model to study different aspects of immune system development, particularly due to its transparent embryonic development, the availability of multiple fluorescent reporter lines, efficient genetic tools and live imaging capabilities. However, the study of immunity in zebrafish has largely been limited to early larval stages due to an incomplete knowledge of the full repertoire of immune cells and their specific markers, in particular, a lack of cell surface antibodies to detect and isolate such cells in living tissues. Here we focus on tissue resident or associated immunity beyond development, in the adult zebrafish. It is our view that, with our increasing knowledge and the development of improved tools and protocols, the adult zebrafish will be increasingly appreciated for offering valuable insights into the role of immunity in tissue repair and maintenance, in both health and disease throughout the lifecourse.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:

Martins, R.
Ellis, P.
MacDonald, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4194-8925
Richardson, R.
Henriques, C.M. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1882-756X

© 2019 Martins, Ellis, MacDonald, Richardson and Henriques. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Keywords:

adult zebrafish (Danio Rerio); tissue resident immunity; tissue repair and regeneration; ageing; gut; heart; retina; brain

Dates: