Thermo Fisher Scientific announced the launch of the Cellomics Zebratox v3.0 Bioapplication at the SOT 48th Annual Meeting and Tox-Expo.
This technique, coupled with the Arrayscan VTI system, provides a solution that automates the imaging and quantitation of zebrafish (D.rerio) embryos after a toxic insult.
The Zebratox Bioapplication assesses the size, shape and curvature of zebrafish embryos two or three days post fertilisation and after a toxic insult.
Configurable to use unlabelled or fluorescently labelled transgenic zebrafish embryos, the user can array the embryos in a 96 or 384-well format, then automatically image and quantitate features related to morphology, which are used to detect both gross and subtle changes in zebrafish development.
As a result of its ability to produce a high number of offspring along with its developmental and physiological similarity to mammals, the zebrafish embryo has become a widely-used model organism.
Zebrafish promise to contribute to several aspects of the discovery process, including target identification, disease modelling, lead discovery and toxicity assessment by combining the scale and throughput of in vitro screens with the physiological complexity of in vivo animal studies, offering improved productivity for drug discovery, academic research and environmental toxicology studies.
This Zebratox Bioapplication relies on the Thermo Scientific Cellomics Arrayscan VTI system, which comprises HCS instrumentation, informatics and reagent products, allowing researchers to rapidly test multiple compounds to discover potential effects on organism health and development.
This application provides an automated and less subjective method for compound screening on organisms when compared to less sophisticated, traditional manual approaches, said Thermo Fisher.
