Regeneration of Zebrafish CNS: Adult Neurogenesis

Regeneration, the ability to repair damaged tissues, varies across species. Zebrafish are excellent models for studying this because they can regenerate various organs. This review focuses on spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish, detailing the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in progenitor formation and neurogenesis. Unlike mammals, zebrafish retain radial glia in their central nervous system, which become proliferative after injury. These radial glia transcribe embryonic genes and give rise to new neurons. Advanced molecular tools in zebrafish allow researchers to investigate how progenitor cells contribute to the regeneration process. Understanding the regenerative abilities of zebrafish, combined with genetic tools and similarities to mammalian CNS, could have major biomedical significance. Zebrafish can serve as a model to target functional regeneration of the spinal cord in humans, complementing research based on mammalian models.

• 1
  Zebrafish spinal cord regeneration involves a brief inflammatory response, macrophage activity to clear myelin debris, minimal cell loss, extensive neurogenesis, and a permissive environment for axonal regrowth.
• 2
  Injury induces significant cell proliferation in the zebrafish spinal cord, particularly in the ventricular zone. This proliferation is associated with cell cycle regulation, with various cyclins and CDKs being differentially regulated during regeneration.
• 3
  Radial glia in zebrafish function as neuronal progenitors after spinal cord injury, giving rise to different cell types including neurons. These cells retain embryonic characters and are a major source of regenerated neurons.