Since its debut in the
biomedical research fields in 1981,
zebrafish have been used as a
vertebrate model organism in more than 40,000
biomedical research studies. Especially useful are
zebrafish lines expressing fluorescent
proteins in a molecule, intracellular
organelle,
cell or
tissue specific manner because they allow the visualization and tracking of molecules, intracellular
organelles,
cells or
tissues of interest in real
time and in vivo. In this
review, we summarize representative transgenic fluorescent
zebrafish lines that have revolutionized
biomedical research on
signal transduction, the craniofacial skeletal system, the
hematopoietic system, the
nervous system, the
urogenital system, the
digestive system and intracellular
organelles.