Editorial: Zebrafish as a model for pharmacological and toxicological research

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a small freshwater teleost widely used as an in vivo vertebrate model system for biomedical research.This species has a fully sequenced genome, high fecundity, external and rapid development, optical transparency during the developmental period, several physiological similarities with humans, and endophenotypes similar to human diseases (Kimmel et al., 1995;Howe et al., 2013;Kalueff et al., 2013).The research employing zebrafish embryos and larvae can provide massive knowledge about pharmacological and toxicological effects in high throughput drug screening (Petersen et al., 2022).In addition, the complex behavioral repertoire of adult zebrafish, its sensitivity to drugs, and the ability to respond to them similarly to humans support their utility for pharmacological and toxicological research (Rico et al., 2011;Zanandrea et al., 2020).The use of pharmacological and toxicological approaches to different developmental stages of zebrafish is relevant to deepen the knowledge of drugs and toxicants' mechanisms.Therefore, this Research Topic aimed to collect studies that exploit the zebrafish model as a tool for pharmacological and toxicological research.After the joint efforts of the journal, editors, reviewers, and contributors, a total of fourteen high-quality articles were published.So, we prepared a detailed summary for these fourteen articles as follows.Alijevic et al. investigated the neuropharmacological in vitro and in vivo effects of three alkaloids-nicotine, cotinine, and anatabine.Natural nicotinic alkaloids induced an anxiolytic-like behavior, and this effect depends on the activation of nAChRs and regulation of other neurotransmitter systems, such as noradrenergic and dopaminergic systems.Organic cation transporters (OCTs) facilitate the transport of cations and other compounds between extracellular fluids and cells.Gould et al. characterized in vivo uptake to the brain and the high-affinity brain membrane binding of the mammalian OCT blocker 1-1′-diethyl-2,2′cyanine iodide (decynium-

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