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Quantifying Cardiac Functions in Embryonic and Adult Zebrafish

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Cardiovascular Development

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 843))

Abstract

Zebrafish embryos have been extensively used to study heart development and cardiac function, mainly due to the unique embryology and genetics of this model organism. Since most human heart disease occurs during adulthood, adult zebrafish models of heart disease are being created to dissect mechanisms of the disease and discover novel therapies. However, due to its small heart size, the use of cardiac functional assays in the adult zebrafish has been limited. To address this bottleneck, the transparent fish line casper;Tg(cmlc2:nuDsRed) that has a red fluorescent heart can be used to document beating hearts in vivo and to quantify cardiac functions in adult zebrafish. Here, we describe our methods for quantifying shortening fraction and heart rate in embryonic zebrafish, as well as in the juvenile and adult casper;Tg(cmlc2:nuDsRed) fish. In addition, we describe the red blood cell flow rate assay that can be used to reflect cardiac function indirectly in zebrafish at any stage.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Leonard Zon at Children’s Hospital, Boston, for sharing with us the casper fish; Dr. Geoff Burns at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, for the Tg(cmlc2:nuDsRed) fish; Jomok Beninio for his help with zebrafish husbandry; and Dr. Jingchun Yang and Dr. Xiaojing Sun for their advice on the shortening fraction methodology for zebrafish larvae.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Tiffany Hoage, Yonghe Ding & Xiaolei Xu

  2. Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Tiffany Hoage, Yonghe Ding & Xiaolei Xu

Authors
  1. Tiffany Hoage
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  2. Yonghe Ding
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  3. Xiaolei Xu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaolei Xu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Dept. Systems Biology &, Texas A&M Health Science Center, SW. HK Dodgen Loop 702, Temple, 76504-7105, Texas, USA

    Xu Peng

  2. School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Molecular Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    Marc Antonyak

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Hoage, T., Ding, Y., Xu, X. (2012). Quantifying Cardiac Functions in Embryonic and Adult Zebrafish. In: Peng, X., Antonyak, M. (eds) Cardiovascular Development. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 843. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-523-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-523-7_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-522-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-523-7

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