Can we gain translational insights into the functional roles of cerebral cortex from acortical rodent and naturally acortical zebrafish models?
Zabegalov K.N. Costa F.V. Kolesnikova T.O. de Abreu M.S. Petersen E.V. Yenkoyan K.B. Kalueff A.V.
8 June 2024Elsevier Inc.
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
2024#132
Cerebral cortex is found only in mammals and is particularly prominent and developed in humans. Various rodent models with fully or partially ablated cortex are commonly used to probe the role of cortex in brain functions and its multiple subcortical projections, including pallium, thalamus and the limbic system. Various rodent models are traditionally used to study the role of cortex in brain functions. A small teleost fish, the zebrafish (Danio rerio), has gained popularity in neuroscience research, and albeit (like other fishes) lacking cortex, its brain performs well some key functions (e.g., memory, consciousness and motivation) with complex, context-specific and well-defined behaviors. Can rodent and zebrafish models help generate insights into the role of cortex in brain functions, and dissect its cortex-specific (vs. non-cortical) functions? To address this conceptual question, here we evaluate brain functionality in intact vs. decorticated rodents and further compare it in the zebrafish, a naturally occurring acortical species. Overall, comparing cortical and acortical rodent models with naturally acortical zebrafish reveals both distinct and overlapping contributions of neocortex and ‘precortical’ zebrafish telencephalic regions to higher brain functions. Albeit morphologically different, mammalian neocortex and fish pallium may possess more functional similarities than it is presently recognized, calling for further integrative research utilizing both cortical and decorticated/acortical vertebrate model organisms.
CNS , Cortex , Decorticated models , Models , Zebrafish
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Neurobiology Program, Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sochi, Russian Federation
National Laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Institute of Experimental Medicine, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russian Federation
Neuroscience Laboratory, COBRAIN Center, Yerevan State Medical University named after M. Heratsi, Yerevan, Armenia
Department of Biochemistry, Yerevan State Medical University named after M. Heratsi, Yerevan, Armenia
Life Improvement by Future Technologies (LIFT) Center, Moscow, LLC, Russian Federation
Neurobiology Program
National Laboratory Astana
Institute of Translational Biomedicine
Institute of Experimental Medicine
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
Neuroscience Laboratory
Department of Biochemistry
Life Improvement by Future Technologies (LIFT) Center
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026