Zebrafish as a Model Organism for Congenital Hydrocephalus: Characteristics and Insights

Hydrocephalus is a cerebrospinal fluid-related disease that usually manifests as abnormal dilation of the ventricles, with a triad of clinical findings including walking difficulty, reduced attention span, and urinary frequency or incontinence. The onset of congenital hydrocephalus is closely related to mutations in genes that regulate brain development. Currently, our understanding of the mechanisms of congenital hydrocephalus remains limited, and the prognosis of existing treatments is unsatisfactory. Additionally, there are no suitable or dedicated model organisms for congenital hydrocephalus. Therefore, it is significant to determine the mechanism and develop special animal models of congenital hydrocephalus. Recently, zebrafish have emerged as a popular model organism in many fields, including developmental biology, genetics, and toxicology. Its genome shares high similarity with that of humans, and it has fast and low-cost reproduction. These advantages make it suitable for studying the pathogenesis and therapeutic approaches for various diseases, specifically congenital diseases. This study explored the possibility of using zebrafish as a model organism for congenital hydrocephalus. This review describes the characteristics of zebrafish and discusses specific congenital hydrocephalus models. The advantages and limitations of using zebrafish for hydrocephalus research are highlighted, and insights for further model development are provided.