Phenotypic Platform ZebraSens

About

Scientific directors: Mireille Rossel and Benjamin Delprat

Technical manager: Jérôme Sarniguet

Steering Committee : Anne-Françoise Roux, Mireille Rossel, Laurent Givalois, Tangui Maurice, Benjamin Delprat, Jean-Michel Verdier, Jérôme Sarniguet

The ZebraSens platform was created at the initiative of 2 laboratories: MMDN (JM Verdier) and LGMR (AF Roux) in order to analyze at the functional level the sensory and behavioral deficits in degenerative pathologies. This platform gathers on the same site and close to the breeding platform of the MMDN Laboratory "Ze-Neuro", state-of-the-art equipment allowing the analysis of vision, hearing and locomotor behavior of zebrafish from the larval stage to the adult, namely

1 Visiobox®
1 Zebracube®
1 Zebrabox High Speed®
3 Zebrabox®

- The Visiobox® pallows to evaluate the vision by measuring the OKR (OptoKinetic Response test). This test evaluates the visual acuity of zebrafish in a stress-free environment and in an automated way.

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Visual acuity measured by OKR involves the movement of the fishes' eyes. This movement is generated by the scrolling of black and white lines at regular intervals with high contrast. It is possible to decrease the size, contrast and color of the stripes to increase the difficulty and accurately assess the visual acuity of a wild or mutant fish. It is possible to measure the visual acuity of 4 fish simultaneously.

- The ZebraCube® allows the study of the three-dimensional locomotor activity (XYZ) of adult fish. The fish are videotracked and it is thus possible to determine the distance traveled, the phases of stop and activity of the fish, the position of the fish in the tanks. In addition, it is possible to measure the social behavior ("shoaling") as well as the spatial memory (T-maze and double H-maze).

zebracube1 zebracube2 YmazeZeb2

- The Zebrabox High Speed® allows to measure the hearing of larvae from 5 dpf. This box has a vibratory module and a high resolution camera (1000 images/sec). This system is thus able to measure the curvature that the larva makes following a sound stimulation of selected frequency and intensity. This curvature is characteristic of the avoidance behavior of a predator and gives information on the auditory acuity of the fish.

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- The Zebrabox® is able to measure the locomotor activity of the larvae from 5dpf (tracking) and their mobility (quantification). The VMR (Visual Motor Response) test measures this locomotor activity in response to sudden changes in light intensity, isolated or repeated. The larvae are videotaped and it is thus possible to determine the distance covered, the phases of stop and activity of the larvae, their position in the well.

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The ASR (Acoustic Startle Response) test allows to determine the hearing acuity of the larvae in response to a sound stimulus of selected frequency and intensity.

To be noted : The Zebrabox® and the Zebracube® can also be used to follow the locomotor activity of the Drosophila model.

Seahorse XFe24: measures the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of live larvae in a 24-well plate format. OCR is a key indicator of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis, as well as the rate of ATP production.

Seahorse