Zebrafish larvae activity monitoring

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are becoming increasingly more popular as laboratory animals. Their larvae are often used for the investigation of behavioral changes induced by novel drugs, toxins, or substances such as alcohol. DanioVision™ , our innovative observation chamber, fulfills all the needs for zebrafish larvae tracking: it is a complete yet compact system that provides the ideal environment for accurate and reliable tracking with EthoVision^® XT. 

Zebrafish are often used for the development of new transgenic and knockout models, drug development, behavioral pharmacology, and safety pharmacology. Having many advantages over rodent models, such as a large number of offspring and easy genetic manipulation, zebrafish are also proven to share several genes with humans and model human biology closely. Their larvae readily absorb compounds from the surrounding water, so they are often used to determine the effects of certain drugs. In zebrafish larvae activity monitoring, their activity and movement patterns can be studied to reveal, for example, stereotyped epileptic behaviors and circadian rhythmicity.

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All you need
The DanioVision Observation Chamber offers you a complete testing environment. Containing all the hardware you need on the inside, keeping external lights outside. This way, you have complete control over the experimental conditions you expose your subject to. And the innovative design guarantees a reliable image for tracking, of each individual.

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The power of controlled conditions
The DanioVision Observation Chamber provides a controlled environment in which the zebrafish larvae are tracked. This means you prevent biased results due to variability in lighting, temperature, or even camera position. The chamber shuts out all external light, while internal IR light sources allow you to reliably track in the dark. Additionally, the white light can be adjusted stepwise (form bright to dimmed) and controlled with the EthoVision XT Trial & Hardware Control Module. The in- and outflow of water gives you control over the temperature around the wells, allowing for experiments over several days. 

Steady view for superior tracking
DanioVision has several features to provide a steady and equal view off each well. This way, EthoVision XT can track each individual larva accurately. The innovative optical design prevents image distortion, while keeping the solution compact. The backlit plate holder evenly illuminates each well to prevent shadowing, and makes sure the ca-
mera and well plate are always aligned properly. Last but not least, the system is shock-resistant due to the anti-vibration feet.

From set-up to results
High throughput tracking means you want to track as many individuals as possible simultaneously, and you want little set-up time before and between trials. A DanioVision set-up facilitates exactly that. The EthoVision XT experiment template makes setting up your project a breeze by saving you the trouble of defining each one of the 96 wells as a zone of interest. Furthermore, the well plate is always in the exact same position, so there is no additional set-up time between trials.

During acquisition, EthoVision XT automatic-ally tracks the swim pattern of each individual larva. Subsequently, the program calculates numerous parameters of interest. These can be based on location, speed, and path shape, such as the distance moved before and after the visible light was turned on. For each parameter EthoVision XT calculates statistics such as the mean or standard deviation. You can plot your tracks to visually compare the different trials, or visualize integrated data to see each trial with parameter values plotted in sync. You can also take your analysis one step further, and easily export your data to several statistical packages.

See DanioVision in action: