Source: Zhao, Y., et al. In Vivo Surface Electrocardiography for Adult Zebrafish. J. Vis. Exp. (2019).
This video shows how to perform electrocardiography (ECG or EKG) measurements, a test which measures the electrical activity of the heart, on a zebrafish.
This protocol is an excerpt from Zhao et al, In Vivo Surface Electrocardiography for Adult Zebrafish, J. Vis. Exp. (2019).
All experiments in this study were conducted in accordance with the US National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. All animal protocols in this study were approved by the UCLA Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
1. Anesthesia induction
2. ECG lead placement
3. ECG recording
4. Recovery from anesthesia
Figure 1: Minimally invasive in vivo ECG recording protocol. A schematic flow chart illustrates four critical action steps in conducting an in vivo ECG interrogation: induce anesthesia, place ECG lead electrodes, record ECG, and analyze the ECG recordings. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: ECG lead placement. Three 29-gauge color-coded stainless steel electrodes are inserted securely into the fish musculature to approximately 1 mm in depth. Placement of the negative (black) electrode and the positive (red) electrode establishes a bipolar lead in the frontal plane, along a left caudal to right cranial orientation. Abbreviation: ref, reference electrode. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3: Contrasting anatomy and ECG of human and zebrafish hearts. In contrast to the human heart with two atria and two ventricles, the zebrafish heart has only one atrium and one ventricle (top row). Abbreviations: RA, right atrium; LA, left atrium; RV, right ventricle; LV: left ventricle. The zebrafish heart shares several common ECG features with the human heart (bottom row). Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Culture dishes | Fisher Scientific | FB087571 | 100 mm x 20 mm |
Dumont Forceps | Fine Sciense Tools | 11253-20 | 0.1 x 0.06 mm |
FE136 Animal Bio Amp | AD Instruments | FE231 | |
Iris Forceps | Fine Sciense Tools | 11064-07 | 0.6 x 0.5 mm |
LabChart 8 Pro | AD Instruments | Software with ECG Module | |
Needle electrodes for Animal Bio Amp | AD Instruments | MLA1213 | 29 gauge |
Plastic Disposable Transfer Pipets | Fisher Scientific | 13-669-12 | 6 in., 1.2 mL |
PowerLab 4/35 | AD Instruments | 4//35 | |
Tricaine (Ethyl 3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonate) | Sigma | E10521-10G | MS-222 |