High-throughput mapping of brain-wide activity in awake and drug-responsive vertebrates

Lab Chip. 2015 Feb 7;15(3):680-9. doi: 10.1039/c4lc01186d.

Abstract

The reconstruction of neural activity across complete neural circuits, or brain activity mapping, has great potential in both fundamental and translational neuroscience research. Larval zebrafish, a vertebrate model, has recently been demonstrated to be amenable to whole brain activity mapping in behaving animals. Here we demonstrate a microfluidic array system ("Fish-Trap") that enables high-throughput mapping of brain-wide activity in awake larval zebrafish. Unlike the commonly practiced larva-processing methods using a rigid gel or a capillary tube, which are laborious and time-consuming, the hydrodynamic design of our microfluidic chip allows automatic, gel-free, and anesthetic-free processing of tens of larvae for microscopic imaging with single-cell resolution. Notably, this system provides the capability to directly couple pharmaceutical stimuli with real-time recording of neural activity in a large number of animals, and the local and global effects of pharmacoactive drugs on the nervous system can be directly visualized and evaluated by analyzing drug-induced functional perturbation within or across different brain regions. Using this technology, we tested a set of neurotoxin peptides and obtained new insights into how to exploit neurotoxin derivatives as therapeutic agents. The novel and versatile "Fish-Trap" technology can be readily unitized to study other stimulus (optical, acoustic, or physical) associated functional brain circuits using similar experimental strategies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal / drug effects*
  • Behavior, Animal / physiology
  • Brain / drug effects*
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping*
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays*
  • Larva
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques*
  • Neurotoxins / pharmacology
  • Peptides / pharmacology
  • Wakefulness / physiology*
  • Zebrafish

Substances

  • Neurotoxins
  • Peptides