PUBLICATION
A Langendorff-like system to quantify cardiac pump function in adult zebrafish
- Authors
- Zhang, H., Dvornikov, A.V., Huttner, I.G., Ma, X., Santiago, C.F., Fatkin, D., Xu, X.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-180718-3
- Date
- 2018
- Source
- Disease models & mechanisms 11(9): (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Fatkin, Diane, Ma, Xiao, Xu, Xiaolei
- Keywords
- Cardiac contractility, Cardiac pump function, Langendorff, Zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Organ Size
- Heart Ventricles/anatomy & histology
- Perfusion/methods*
- Heart/physiology*
- Male
- Cardiomyopathies/chemically induced
- Cardiomyopathies/physiopathology
- Electrocardiography
- Myocardial Contraction
- Aging/physiology*
- Female
- Zebrafish/physiology*
- Animals
- Doxorubicin/adverse effects
- PubMed
- 30012855 Full text @ Dis. Model. Mech.
Citation
Zhang, H., Dvornikov, A.V., Huttner, I.G., Ma, X., Santiago, C.F., Fatkin, D., Xu, X. (2018) A Langendorff-like system to quantify cardiac pump function in adult zebrafish. Disease models & mechanisms. 11(9):.
Abstract
Zebrafish are increasingly used as a vertebrate model to study human cardiovascular disorders. Although heart structure and function are readily visualized in zebrafish embryos because of their optical transparency, the lack of effective tools for evaluating the hearts of older, nontransparent fish has been a major limiting factor. The recent development of high-frequency echocardiography has been an important advance for in vivo cardiac assessment, but it necessitates anesthesia and has limited ability to study acute interventions. We report the development of an alternative experimental ex vivo technique for quantifying heart size and function that resembles the Langendorff heart preparations that have been widely used in mammalian models. Dissected adult zebrafish hearts were perfused with a calcium-containing buffer, and a beat frequency was maintained with electrical stimulation. The impact of pacing frequency, flow rate and perfusate calcium concentration on ventricular performance (including end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes, ejection fraction, radial strain, and maximal velocities of shortening and relaxation) were evaluated and optimal conditions defined. We determined the effects of age on heart function in wild-type male and female zebrafish, and successfully detected hypercontractile and hypocontractile responses after adrenergic stimulation or doxorubicin treatment, respectively. Good correlations were found between indices of cardiac contractility obtained with high-frequency echocardiography and with the ex vivo technique in a subset of fish studied with both methods. The ex vivo beating heart preparation is a valuable addition to the cardiac function tool kit that will expand the use of adult zebrafish for cardiovascular research.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping