Advantages of Ciona intestinalis as a Model Organism and Its Applications / 实验动物与比较医学

With the continuous development of experimental biology, the limitations of commonly utilized model organisms are becoming increasingly apparent. Discrepancies between research conducted on laboratory animals and humans significantly impede the translational application of findings derived from animal experiments. This review introduces ascidian Ciona intestinalis as a novel model organism, an invertebrate that is evolutionarily closest to vertebrates and is a sister group to vertebrates. The review summarizes recent research progress on Ciona intestinalis in various fields to illustrate the significant advantages and promising application prospects of it as a model organism. The research progress outlined in the review mainly encompasses: (1) The whole-genome sequencing of Ciona intestinalis has been determined and numerous related databases have been established. Various embryonic gene editing technologies have been successfully applied, making it an animal model easy to manipulate genetically and study the functions and interactions of target genes visually. (2) In the field of neurobiology, Ciona intestinalis boasts a central nervous system structure similar to that of vertebrates and possesses numerous homologous neuropeptides and hormone molecules. These features grant it an edge in exploring the mechanisms and functional evolution of endocrine and neuroendocrine-related molecules. Additionally, the sensitivity and habituation of its larvae to light stimulation provide an avenue for exploring mechanisms related to behavioral plasticity. (3) In the field of immunology, Ciona intestinalis possesses a mature innate immune system and has evolved precursor genes to the adaptive immune system, with a relatively simple coding of immune-related genes. These features make it an exemplary model organism for immunological studies. (4) In the field of developmental biology, many studies have focused on the notochord development process in Ciona intestinalis and the regulatory mechanisms of gene expression within it, indicating common evolutionary developmental strategies among chordates. Additionally, insights into its heart development also significantly enhance our comprehension on the genetic network of human heart development. (5) In medical research, the ability of Ciona intestinalis to regenerate its neural complex and siphon, as well as the resilience of its heart to recover contractile function from substantial damage, renders it a valuable animal model for the study of regeneration and heart injury. It also has unique advantages as a research model for Alzheimer's disease and new drug development. Furthermore, its brief five-month lifespan facilitates the observation and recording of the entire aging process and the exploration of the effects of various factors on aging. In summary, this review aims to demonstrate that Ciona intestinalis stands out as a model organism with unique attributes and is expected to play a significant role in a wider range of scientific research areas.

Research and application of model fruit fly in prevention and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders by traditional Chinese medicine and natural compounds: a review / 中国中药杂志

As an important model animal, fruit fly is characterized by outstanding genetic characteristics, relatively perfect nervous system, rapid reproduction, and low cost. Thus, it has been applied in the research on neuropsychiatric disorders in recent years, showing great potential in life science. The incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders has been on the rise, and the disorders have high disability rate and low case fatality rate. The global drug demand for such diseases is second only to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. At the moment, the demand of the drugs for the diseases have been rising, and it is an urgent task to develop related drugs. However, the research and development of the drugs are time-intensive and have a high failure rate. A suitable animal model can help shorten the time for drug screening and development, thereby reducing the cost and failure rate. This study reviews the application of fruit flies in several common neuropsychiatric disorders, which is expected to provide new ideas for the research and application of the model animals in traditional Chinese medicine.

Zebrafish: an emerging model for hereditary muscle disease research / 中华神经科杂志

With the advances in molecular genetic techniques, especially next-generation sequencing technologies, genetic testing is now a widely applied procedure in diagnosing hereditary muscle diseases. However, there remain many challenges to assessing the pathogenicity of genetic variants, understanding disease pathogenesis, and developing therapeutic strategies in hereditary muscle diseases. The zebrafish model system is a powerful tool to address these issues, thanks to conserved vertebrate genetics, the ease of genetic manipulation, and various assessment approaches for muscle function. Given the limited use of zebrafish model organisms on muscle disease research in China, this article mainly focuses on the advantages, applications, and limitations of zebrafish as a model of hereditary muscle disease.

Research progress of muscle atrophy animal models / 中国药理学通报

An effective therapeutic method for muscular dystro-phy is unavailable now;however,the research and development of anti-muscular dystrophy drugs need appropriate animal mod-els. Researchers focus on Caenorhabditis elegans because of the andvantages such as the transparent body, short life cycle, and high homology with human genes. The Caenorhabditis elegans mutant strains show musucular dystrophy phenotype similar to human diseases. In this paper,the application of Caenorhabditis elegans models in muscular dystrophy research has been re-viewed.

Advances and Applications of Frontier Omics Technology of Chinese Materia Medica / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

A lot of research achievements have been obtained in the field of Chinese materia medica (CMM) in recent years,which have been paid close attention to by the international community.It also promotes the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).However,the genetic background of CMM bioactive compounds and the effect on human genes of CMM composition after ingestion are not clear.As a frontier technology,herbgenomics provides a new method for the study of biosynthesis,breeding of new varieties and the identification of CMM.It will also promote more achievements in this field.This paper reviewed the research progress of study on the frontier omics technology of CMM in order to provide references for CMM research.

Application of zebrafish models in research of diabetes / 中国比较医学杂志

As a model organism, zebrafish have many advantages over other animal models and is suitable for studies on establishment of human disease model and mechanism.In zebrafish, there are two phases of endocrine formation during early development, which are directed by concomitant activity of many signaling pathways.Zebrafish pancreas possess similar cell structure with that of other animals, which can express various endocrine hormones including insulin.The main organs required for metabolic control, such as the pancreas, islet, and insulin sensitive tissue (muscle, liver) are conserved in zebrafish, and the mechanisms of glucose regulation in zebrafish is similar to that seen in mammalian models.These render it an excellent model to study glucose metabolism.Hyperglycemia in zebrafish model can be induced by administration of the diabetogenic drug, streptozotocin (STZ), alternatively immersion of the fish in glucose solution and water, or disturbing of signaling pathways associated with glucose metabolism.Glucose levels in adult zebrafish blood or embryo tissue and phenotype of retinal cell layers or retinal vasculature are the commonly used measurement organs in zebrafish diabetic models.

Drosophila melanogaster: Deciphering Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most widespread neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Its pathogenesis involves two hallmarks: aggregation of amyloid beta (Aβ) and occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). The mechanism behind the disease is still unknown. This has prompted the use of animal models to mirror the disease. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster has garnered considerable attention as an organism to recapitulate human disorders. With the ability to monopolise a multitude of traditional and novel genetic tools, Drosophila is ideal for studying not only cellular aspects but also physiological and behavioural traits of human neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we discuss the use of the Drosophila model in understanding AD pathology and the insights gained in discovering drug therapies for AD.

Development of drug toxicity and novel strategy for toxicity of Chinese materia medica based on zebrafish model / 中草药

With the advantages of high throughput activity screening and toxicity evaluation, zebrafish has become popular model organism in pharmaceutical research in recent years. Being integrated advantages both in vivo and in vitro, with high efficiency and low cost, evaluation using zebrafish has become an effective method in quick screening of early safety of compounds on abroad. In past years, studies on toxicity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with zebrafish model have attracted more attention in China. The development in drug toxicity studies based on zebrafish model was reviewed, and novel strategy for toxicity of TCM using zebrafish was suggested in the paper.

Application and prospect of model organism Drosophila melanogaster in activity evaluating and efficacy characterization of traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

The common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a well studied and tractable genetic model organism for exploring molecular mechanisms of human diseases in biological science. The considerable work of Drosophila has promoted the comprehension of relative protein expressions and signaling pathways associated with pathological and physiological activities. Meanwhile, various strains of transgenic drosophila with diverse genetic features have been established. These fly strains can be applied into bioactivity evaluation and drug screen as an emerging human disease model. The development of Chinese medicine has been seriously restricted by lacking of techniques and methods in activity evaluation. D. melanogaster, because of its many distinguishing features, such as rapid reproduction, short life cycle, rich strains, entirety action, highly correlated with human and other characteristics, has become a desirable choice to study Chinese medicine which has complicated composition. Here, progress of researches based on flies in disease models and their application in drug evaluating were reviewed, including aging, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic disorders and diabetes, sleep disorder, intestinal immunity, reproduction, cancer and cardiac function.

Model organism C.elegans applications in the complex-system drug activity evaluation / 中国比较医学杂志

Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans), has developed into an useful model for biomedical research, particularly in the targets of novel drugs and the related mechanism.C.elegans, combining with cost-effective cultivation, simple biological structure, make for high-throughput screenings in vivo model.In this review, we explore the feasibility of C.elegans in drug activity evaluation of complex systems.Because of the body independence of C.elegans, it provided good platform for the efficacy and mechanism of research on new drugs as well as Chinese herbal extract in vivo, showing a good prospect.

Applications of the zebrafish in the studies of developmental pediatrics / 国际儿科学杂志

Zebrafish as a new animal model is gradually being recognized. Easy fed, growing rapidly,transparent embryo, strong reproduction, especially similar with human in gene structure, body regulation patterns, and the development of organs and disease, all those characteristics make zebrafish significant in development of vertebrate animal and human disease. This review focuses on discussing the applications of the major organs of zebrafish in the studies of developmental pediatrics.

A New Model for Apoptosis Research: Yeast / 生物化学与生物物理进展

Apoptosis is an organized suicide program which is evolutionally conserved from yeast to mammals. Research on yeast apoptosis has made rapid progress, though it remained unrecognized until recent years. Initial observations show that yeast can be induced to undergo apoptosis and a number of conserved pro- and antiapoptotic proteins have been identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast has been validated as a model organism to investigate mechanisms of apoptosis. Recently, yeast has also been used as a model to study apoptosis-related disease, such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson′s disease. The feasibility, the advantages and the perspectives of yeast model for apoptosis research are reviewed.