Zebrafish Genetics Laboratory, Department of Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, 603 203, India.
Interdisciplinary Institute of Indian System of Medicine, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, 603 203, India.
J Neurosci Methods. 2019 May 15;320:16-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.03.008. Epub 2019 Mar 11.
Motor and non-motor behavior analyses are increasingly utilizied in drug discovery and screening, detection of neurobehavioral disorders and chemical toxicology. The emergence of computational approaches has helped to develop different tools to analyse complex behaviors. Analysis of locomotor behavior helps in understanding the motor neuron disorders like Parkinson's Disease. Although many animal models are available to study the locomotion, adult zebrafish has emerged as a simple and efficient model to study this behavior. An inexpensive and easily customizable tool is required to replace the licensed and expensive set-up to analyse the locomotor behavior.
In this study we have optimized the ImageJ plugin wrMTrck to analyse motor and non-motor behaviors in adult zebrafish. We have generated a macro to simplify the preprocessing and tracking. Subsequently, we have developed a data analysis sheet to analyse various behavioral end points.
We have successfully developed an inexpensive video acquisition set-up and optimized wrMTrck for adult zebrafish. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of this method, adult zebrafish were injected with MPTP and motor and non-motor behaviors were analysed. Expectedly, MPTP injected fish showed decrease in dopamine level and dat expression level, which subsequently led to locomotor behavioral defects as well as anxiety, a non-motor symptom of PD.
COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHOD(S): Further, the obtained results were validated by another ImageJ macro developed by Pelkowski et al. (2011) and we observed identical trajectories.
The usefulness of popular ImageJ plugin wrMTrck and this extended protocol will be helpful to quantify motor and non-motor behavioral parameters.
运动和非运动行为分析越来越多地应用于药物发现和筛选、神经行为障碍和化学毒理学的检测。计算方法的出现有助于开发不同的工具来分析复杂的行为。运动行为分析有助于了解帕金森病等运动神经元疾病。虽然有许多动物模型可用于研究运动，但成年斑马鱼已成为研究这种行为的简单而有效的模型。需要一种廉价且易于定制的工具来替代昂贵的许可设备，以分析运动行为。
在这项研究中，我们优化了 ImageJ 插件 wrMTrck 来分析成年斑马鱼的运动和非运动行为。我们生成了一个宏来简化预处理和跟踪。随后，我们开发了一个数据分析表来分析各种行为终点。
我们成功开发了一种廉价的视频采集设置，并优化了 wrMTrck 以适应成年斑马鱼。为了证明这种方法的有效性，向成年斑马鱼注射 MPTP 并分析运动和非运动行为。预期地，MPTP 注射的鱼显示多巴胺水平和 dat 表达水平下降，这随后导致运动行为缺陷以及焦虑，这是 PD 的一种非运动症状。
此外，通过 Pelkowski 等人开发的另一个 ImageJ 宏（2011 年）验证了获得的结果，我们观察到了相同的轨迹。
流行的 ImageJ 插件 wrMTrck 和此扩展协议的有用性将有助于量化运动和非运动行为参数。
