Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202-24, Taiwan.
Sensors (Basel). 2020 Sep 7;20(18):5088. doi: 10.3390/s20185088.
Zebrafish are a preferred vertebrate model for evaluating metabolism during development, and for toxicity studies. However, commercially available intermittent-flow respirometry systems (IFRS) do not provide a suitable zebrafish-scaled swimming tunnel with a low water volume and proper flow velocities. We developed a miniature IFRS (mIFRS) with a 3D-printed, palm-sized zebrafish treadmill for measuring the swimming ability and metabolic rate of a single one- or three-month-old zebrafish with and without toxicity treatment. The 3D-printed zebrafish treadmill consists of discrete components assembled together which enables the provision of a temporary closed circulating water flow. The results showed that three-month-old zebrafish of normal physiological status had higher energetic efficiency and could swim at a higher critical swimming speed (U) of 16.79 cm/s with a lower cost of transport (COT) of 0.11 μmol gm. However, for a single three-month-old zebrafish treated with an antibacterial agent, U decreased to 45% of normal zebrafish and the COT increased to 0.24 μmol gm, due to the impairment of mitochondria. Our mIFRS provides a low-cost, portable, and readily adaptable tool for studying the swimming performance and energetic metabolism of zebrafish.
斑马鱼是评估发育过程中代谢和毒性研究的首选脊椎动物模型。然而，商业上可用的间歇流动呼吸测量系统（IFRS）不能提供具有低水量和适当流速的合适的斑马鱼规模游泳隧道。我们开发了一种带有 3D 打印手掌大小的斑马鱼跑步机的微型 IFRS（mIFRS），用于测量单个或三个月大的斑马鱼在有毒或无毒处理下的游泳能力和代谢率。3D 打印的斑马鱼跑步机由离散组件组装而成，可提供临时封闭的循环水流。结果表明，生理状态正常的三个月大的斑马鱼具有更高的能量效率，能够以 16.79 cm/s 的更高临界游泳速度（U）和 0.11 μmol gm 的更低运输成本（COT）游泳。然而，对于单个三个月大的斑马鱼用抗菌剂处理，U 下降到正常斑马鱼的 45%，COT 增加到 0.24 μmol gm，这是由于线粒体受损所致。我们的 mIFRS 提供了一种低成本、便携式和易于适应的工具，用于研究斑马鱼的游泳性能和能量代谢。
