Zebrafish as a Model for Studying Kidney Regeneration

Abstract

Kidney disease affects millions of people and represents a growing health care burden. There is no cure for loss of kidney function, because humans are born with a finite number of nephrons with limited ability to repair themselves after injury. Zebrafish kidneys have the remarkable ability to regenerate after injury by adding new nephrons as well as repairing existing nephrons as mammals do. In fish, new nephrons are able to differentiate in situ and functionally connect to the existing tubular architecture throughout the life of the adult animal. Zebrafish kidney regeneration allows investigation of common mechanisms for repair of nephrons after injury while giving insights into completely unique mechanisms for reserving and maintaining a multipotent progenitor cell population. In this review, we give an overview of zebrafish kidney development and regeneration, explore available genetic tools, survey different injury models, and consider implications for human kidney regeneration.