Abstract: Over the last few years, the zebrafish has entered the field of medical research. The zebrafish possesses a host of advantages that made it as an excellent model organism. These advantages include small size and cost, optical clarity and ease of genetic manipulation and transgenesis. In this review, we focus on the use of the zebrafish for the research of cardiovascular diseases. Firstly, we introduce the cardiovascular development, cardiovascular imaging, and genetic techniques of the zebrafish. Secondly, we analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the zebrafish in cardiovascular research. Finally, we summarize previous studies with the use of this organism to model such diseases and processes as atherosclerosis, arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, congenital heart diseases, heart failure, cardiac regeneration, inflammation, collateral vessel development, thrombosis, and novel drug screening.

Key words: model organism, zebrafish, cardiovascular disease