Managing the Welfare of Zebrafish in Laboratory: Overview of Prevailing Diseases and Health Issues

Abstract

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a freshwater species native to South Asia belonging to the Cyprinidae family. Due to its easy housing and breeding, high fecundity, and rapid development, it has become a popular laboratory animal. Furthermore, zebrafish is an increasingly successful and widely used vertebrate model organism in scientific research, e.g., in drug discovery, particularly preclinical development, mainly because of its immune response and well-known genome. Nevertheless, zebrafish health in laboratory facilities is crucial. Both the water quality and pathogens control are directly related to the zebrafish welfare, which, under inappropriate conditions, may confound experimental findings, leading to irreproducible outcomes and invalid or misinterpreted results. Infections by Aeromonas and mycobacterium, for example, interfere with the results of experiments by altering physiological parameters. Likewise, infection of the nervous system by Pseudoloma neurophilia causes behavioral changes in zebrafish, leading to misinterpretation in behavioral studies. In this chapter, we seek to provide valuable contributions about zebrafish housing and husbandry conditions known to influence animal health, drawing attention to the most common diseases and pathogens that eventually may affect zebrafish in the laboratory.