Mapping Calcium Dynamics in the Heart of Zebrafish Embryos with Ratiometric Genetically Encoded Calcium Indicators.

ABSTRACT: Zebrafish embryos have been proposed as a cost-effective vertebrate model to study heart function. Many fluorescent genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators (GECIs) have been developed, but those with ratiometric readout seem more appropriate to image a moving organ such as the heart. Four ratiometric GECIs based on troponin C, TN-XXL, Twitch-1, Twitch-2B, and Twitch-4 were expressed transiently in the heart of zebrafish embryos. Their emission ratio reported the Ca2+ levels in both the atrium and the ventricle. We measured several kinetic parameters of the Ca2+ transients: systolic and diastolic ratio, the amplitude of the systolic Ca2+ rise, the heart rate, as well as the rise and decay times and slopes. The systolic ratio change decreased in cells expressing high biosensor concentration, pos

SUBMITTER: Salgado-Almario J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7555812 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature