A high-throughput system for drug screening based on the movement analysis of zebrafish
Xinkai Zhao,
Ziyu Li,
Bingbing Cao,
Yichao Jin,
Wenxing Wang,
Jing Tian,
Liang Dai,
Dan Sun,
Ce Zhang
Affiliations
Xinkai Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China
Ziyu Li
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China
Bingbing Cao
Hunter Laboratory Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., No. 182, Innovation Center, No. 2 Qiande Road, Nanjing, 211122, Jiangsu, China
Yichao Jin
Hunter Laboratory Technology (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., No. 182, Innovation Center, No. 2 Qiande Road, Nanjing, 211122, Jiangsu, China
Wenxing Wang
Huaxin Micro-fish (Suzhou) Biotechnology Co., Ltd., No. 5-4-417, Science and Education New City, Taicang, 215411, Jiangsu, China
Jing Tian
Center for Automated and Innovative Drug Discovery, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China; Huaxin Micro-fish (Suzhou) Biotechnology Co., Ltd., No. 5-4-417, Science and Education New City, Taicang, 215411, Jiangsu, China
Liang Dai
Department of Physics, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China; Corresponding author. Department of Physics, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China.
Dan Sun
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China; Center for Automated and Innovative Drug Discovery, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China; Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China.
Ce Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi'an, 710127, Shaanxi, China; Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an, 710127, Shaanxi, China.
Zebrafish is a highly advantageous model animal for drug screening and toxicity evaluation thanks to its amenability to optical imaging (i.e., transparency), possession of organ structures similar to humans, and the ease with which disease models can be established. However, current zebrafish drug screening technologies and devices suffer from limitations such as low level of automation and throughput, and low accuracy caused by the heterogeneity among individual zebrafish specimens. To address these issues, we herein develop a high-throughput zebrafish drug screening system. This system is capable of maintaining optimal culturing conditions and simultaneously monitoring and analyzing the movement of 288 zebrafish larvae under various external conditions, such as drug combinations. Moreover, to eliminate the effect of heterogeneity, locomotion of participating zebrafish is assessed and grouped before experiments. It is demonstrated that in contrast to the experimental results without pre-selection, which shows ∼20 % damaged motor function (i.e., degree of attenuation), the drug-induced variations among zebrafish with equivalent mobility reaches ∼80 %. Overall, our high-throughput zebrafish drug screening system overcomes current limitations by improving automation, throughput, and accuracy, resulting in enhanced detection of drug-induced variations in zebrafish motor function.
