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Improved Imaging of Zebrafish Motility
Author(s) -
Rich Adam
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
neurogastroenterology and motility
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.489
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1365-2982
pISSN - 1350-1925
DOI - 10.1111/nmo.13435
Subject(s) - zebrafish , motility , contraction (grammar) , biology , calcium imaging , toolbox , microbiology and biotechnology , computational biology , neuroscience , bioinformatics , calcium , gene , medicine , computer science , endocrinology , genetics , programming language
Zebrafish larvae are transparent and the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract is easily visualized. Application of a new image analysis technique is reported in this issue of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (Neurogastroenterol Motil., 2018, volume 30, e13351). The technique quantifies movement in images collected in a timed sequence, and characterizes smooth muscle contractions based on contraction distance and frequency. The technique also reports the contraction amplitude, or the distance moved. This technique, and current spatiotemporal mapping techniques, are essential tools enabling characterization of GI motility patterns in intact physiological settings. Advances and development of transgenic zebrafish that lack pigmentation, with calcium reporters expressed in specific cell types, or with inactivation of specific genes contribute to our understanding of the generation, and regulation of GI motility at the molecular, cellular, and systemic level. Finally, development of chambers that immobilize zebrafish larvae for long‐duration imaging will contribute to our technique toolbox, and will provide an increased experimental throughput.