Santoso Fiorency, Farhan Ali, Castillo Agnes L, Malhotra Nemi, Saputra Ferry, Kurnia Kevin Adi, Chen Kelvin H-C, Huang Jong-Chin, Chen Jung-Ren, Hsiao Chung-Der
Master Program in Nanotechnology, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 320314, Taiwan.
Department of Bioscience Technology, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 320314, Taiwan.
Biomedicines. 2020 Sep 4;8(9):329. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines8090329.
The heart is the most important muscular organ of the cardiovascular system, which pumps blood and circulates, supplying oxygen and nutrients to peripheral tissues. Zebrafish have been widely explored in cardiotoxicity research. For example, the zebrafish embryo has been used as a human heart model due to its body transparency, surviving several days without circulation, and facilitating mutant identification to recapitulate human diseases. On the other hand, adult zebrafish can exhibit the amazing regenerative heart muscle capacity, while adult mammalian hearts lack this potential. This review paper offers a brief description of the major methodologies used to detect zebrafish cardiac rhythm at both embryonic and adult stages. The dynamic pixel change method was mostly performed for the embryonic stage. Other techniques, such as kymography, laser confocal microscopy, artificial intelligence, and electrocardiography (ECG) have also been applied to study heartbeat in zebrafish embryos. Nevertheless, ECG is widely used for heartbeat detection in adult zebrafish since ECG waveforms' similarity between zebrafish and humans is prominent. High-frequency ultrasound imaging (echocardiography) and modern electronic sensor tag also have been proposed. Despite the fact that each method has its benefits and limitations, it is proved that zebrafish have become a promising animal model for human cardiovascular disease, drug pharmaceutical, and toxicological research. Using those tools, we conclude that zebrafish behaviors as an excellent small animal model to perform real-time monitoring for the developmental heart process with transparent body appearance, to conduct the in vivo cardiovascular performance and gene function assays, as well as to perform high-throughput/high content drug screening.
心脏是心血管系统中最重要的肌肉器官，它泵血并使血液循环，为外周组织提供氧气和营养物质。斑马鱼在心脏毒性研究中得到了广泛探索。例如，斑马鱼胚胎因其身体透明、无需循环就能存活数天且便于识别突变体以重现人类疾病，而被用作人类心脏模型。另一方面，成年斑马鱼能够展现出惊人的心肌再生能力，而成年哺乳动物的心脏则缺乏这种潜力。这篇综述文章简要介绍了在胚胎期和成年期检测斑马鱼心律的主要方法。动态像素变化法主要用于胚胎期。其他技术，如记波法、激光共聚焦显微镜、人工智能和心电图（ECG）也已被应用于研究斑马鱼胚胎的心跳。然而，由于斑马鱼和人类的心电图波形相似性显著，ECG被广泛用于成年斑马鱼的心跳检测。高频超声成像（超声心动图）和现代电子传感器标签也已被提出。尽管每种方法都有其优点和局限性，但事实证明斑马鱼已成为人类心血管疾病、药物制药和毒理学研究的一种有前景的动物模型。使用这些工具，我们得出结论，斑马鱼作为一种优秀的小动物模型，具有透明的身体外观，可对心脏发育过程进行实时监测，可进行体内心血管性能和基因功能测定，还可进行高通量/高内涵药物筛选。
