Analysis of Skeletal Muscle Defects in Larval Zebrafish by Birefringence and Touch-evoke Escape Response Assays

The zebrafish is now an established and powerful tool for modeling muscular dystrophies, congenital myopathies, and related neuromuscular diseases. Birefringence and touch-evoked escape behavior are two common noninvasive assays used to determine the degree of muscular disorganization and locomotive impairment of zebrafish embryos during early development.