ABSTRACT
Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is the most common symptom in ciliopathies, diseases caused by defects in cilia structure and function. Cilia are antenna-like subcellular organelles that function as chemical and mechanical sensors of the environment. Around 100 causal genes have been identified for PKD. However, the mechanisms of how these genes affecting renal morphology and function are still not well understood. Zebrafish kidney, the pronephros, is well conserved with the mammal kidney at the molecular, structural, and functional levels. With the rapid development of technologies in sequencing, gene editing, and imaging, the zebrafish provides more insight into the PKD field. In this chapter, we provide several protocols to discover new signaling pathway components in the zebrafish and analyze the morphology and function of zebrafish kidneys.
