Department of Chemistry, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 320314, Taiwan.
Department of Bioscience Technology, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 320314, Taiwan.
Biomolecules. 2021 Oct 7;11(10):1476. doi: 10.3390/biom11101476.
Cardiac arrhythmia has been defined as one of the abnormal heart rhythm symptoms, which is a common problem dealt with by cardiologists. Zebrafish were established as a powerful animal model with a transparent body that enables optical observation to analyze cardiac morphology and cardiac rhythm regularity. Currently, research has observed heart-related parameters in zebrafish, which used different approaches, such as starting from the use of fluorescent transgenic zebrafish, different software, and different observation methods. In this study, we developed an innovative approach by using the OpenCV library to measure zebrafish larvae heart rate and rhythm. The program is designed in Python, with the feature of multiprocessing for simultaneous region-of-interest (ROI) detection, covering both the atrium and ventricle regions in the video, and was designed to be simple and user-friendly, having utility even for users who are unfamiliar with Python. Results were validated with our previously published method using ImageJ, which observes pixel changes. In summary, the results showed good consistency in heart rate-related parameters. In addition, the established method in this study also can be widely applied to other invertebrates (like Daphnia) for cardiac rhythm measurement.
心律失常被定义为一种异常的心率症状，是心脏病学家经常处理的常见问题。斑马鱼被确立为一种强大的动物模型，具有透明的身体，能够进行光学观察，以分析心脏形态和心率规律性。目前，研究已经观察了斑马鱼的心脏相关参数，这些参数使用了不同的方法，例如从使用荧光转基因斑马鱼开始，使用不同的软件和不同的观察方法。在这项研究中，我们使用 OpenCV 库开发了一种创新的方法来测量斑马鱼幼虫的心率和节律。该程序是用 Python 设计的，具有多处理功能，可同时检测感兴趣区域 (ROI)，覆盖视频中的心房和心室区域，设计简单易用，即使对于不熟悉 Python 的用户也具有实用性。结果与我们之前使用 ImageJ 观察像素变化的方法进行了验证。总之，心率相关参数的结果显示出很好的一致性。此外，本研究中建立的方法也可以广泛应用于其他无脊椎动物（如溞）的心脏节律测量。
