The ZE-Tunnel: An Affordable, Easy-to-Assemble, and User-Friendly Benchtop Zebrafish Swim Tunnel.
Zebrafish
; 18(1): 29-41, 2021 02.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33428527
ABSTRACT
The popularity of zebrafish in both basic biological and biomedical research has led to an increased need for understanding their behavior. Locomotor behavior is an important outcome of different factors, such as specific genotypes or external stimuli that influence the nervous and musculoskeletal system. Locomotion can be studied by forced swimming in a swim tunnel, a device capable of generating a laminar water flow at different speeds in a chamber where zebrafish can be placed. However, commercially available swim tunnels are relatively expensive and in-house built systems are mostly presented without clear building instructions or proper validation procedures. In this study, we developed an alternative, cheap (<250 euro), and user-friendly, but customizable benchtop swim tunnel, called the "Zebrafish exercise-tunnel" (ZE-Tunnel). Detailed step-by-step instructions on how to construct the tunnel components, including the frame, mechanical, and electric components are given. The ZE-Tunnel was reliably used to exercise fish for prolonged periods and its performance was successfully validated by replicating previously published experiments on critical speed testing in zebrafish. Finally, implementation of behavioral video analysis using freely available motion-tracking software showed differences in swimming dynamics in the Chihuahua skeletal zebrafish mutant.
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Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Condicionamento Físico Animal
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Natação
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Ciência dos Animais de Laboratório
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Peixe-Zebra
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article