3D + time blood flow mapping using SPIM-microPIV in the developing zebrafish heart.

We present SPIM-μPIV as a flow imaging system, capable of measuring flow information with 3D micron-scale resolution. Our system was validated using a phantom experiment consisting of a flow of beads in a 50 μm diameter FEP tube. Then, with the help of optical gating techniques, we obtained 3D + time flow fields throughout the full heartbeat in a ∼3 day old zebrafish larva using fluorescent red blood cells as tracer particles. From this we were able to recover 3D flow fields at 31 separate phases in the heartbeat. From our measurements of this specimen, we found the net pumped blood volume through the atrium to be 0.239 nL per beat. SPIM-μPIV enables high quality measurements of flow fields that will be valuable for studies of heart function and fluid-structure interaction in a range of small-animal models.