Mohd Farooq Shaikh

By Brandon Kar Meng Choo and Mohd. Farooq Shaikh

Cognitive dysfunction is an impairment in one or more of the six cognitive domains (complex attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, perceptual motor and social cognition). The effect of pharmacological interventions can be studied using animal models of cognitive dysfunction, which are typically split into pharmacological, developmental and genetic models. Rodents are the most commonly used animal species for modelling cognitive dysfunction, although multiple models and test locations are often recommended to improve validity. Researchers thus unfortunately need to balance the validity of their experimental designs with financial, logistical and cost constraints. Zebrafish could be the answer to this conundrum as one of their many advantages over rodents is their high breeding rate which makes high-throughput screening more feasible and thus increases cost-effectiveness. The popularity of zebrafish has been increasing in recent times, as measured by the increasing number of zebrafish research publications. It is thus unsurprising that several zebrafish models of cognitive dysfunction have already been developed, together with zebrafish tests designed to measure zebrafish cognitive performance. Future research will undoubtedly lead to the development of new zebrafish models of cognitive dysfunction, as well as validate current ones to pave the way for widespread adoption.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Zebrafish Researches

By Vanessa Lin Lin Lee and Mohd. Farooq Shaikh

Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder, affecting about 70 million people worldwide. It is defined as a central nervous system disorder which affects the neuronal activity in the brain, causing unprovoked seizures and other behavioral changes. Unfortunately, one-third of epilepsy patients are unresponsive to available therapies and patients who respond to antiepileptic drugs often complain of debilitating side effects. In the effort of devising a suitable therapy for epilepsy treatment, researchers delved into the origin of seizures and the epileptogenic process and found an association between epilepsy and inflammation. Here, we discuss the involvement of inflammatory mediators in the development and progression of seizures and epileptogenesis, supported by clinical shreds of evidence. Subsequently, we discuss the role of inflammation in the generation of seizures, as it is debatable whether inflammation is the cause or consequence of epilepsy, along with experimental models in inflammation and epilepsy research.

Part of the book: Epilepsy