Technologies for the healthy environment
A zebrafish-based platform for comprehensive analysis of the external environment impact on the cardiovascular and muscular systems
According to the World Health Organization, 80% of diseases can be attributed to poor water quality. Fish and aquatic organisms are among the first to be affected by pollutants. Heavy metals, organic pollutants, agricultural chemicals can significantly disrupt the development of basic systems, reduce immune function, and affect overall population size and biodiversity. Thus, the fish welfare serves as a biological indicator of water pollution and the overall environmental health. As the role of aquaculture and fisheries in providing global food security is becoming increasingly clear, timely toxicity monitoring is mandatory for reducing fish loss and preventing consumer intoxication. Existing biotest methods is quite robust, but time-consuming, elaborate, and as a rule invasive, or even lethal techniques required expensive equipment, significant computing power, rely on the only adult fish analysis and etc. The issue Practice addressed is the lack of non-invasive, rapid, accurate, reliable, and cost-effective instruments for the comprehensive analysis of environmental pollutants impact on a variety of fish species at early developmental stages. To address this issue, we have developed a unique platform that combines equipment, software, and a methodology to assess the cardiovascular and muscular systems of fish at different developmental stages in a single format. The proposed approach unsure studies in a non-invasive, in vivo, low-stressed, label-free, rapid, and typically automated manner, with high performance and spatial resolution and clarity and ease of data interpretation. It is an easy, cost-effective and informative technique based on the digital analysis of microscopic video frames of optical transparency tissues of most fish species at early developmental stages. We employed optical diagnostic techniques, specifically photoplethysmography, videocapillaroscopy, and Mueller-matrix imaging, for qualitative and quantitative assessments of body abnormalities. The designed approach provides visualization and quantification of body parameters, such as heart rate, blood flow velocity, vascular and muscular maps, etc., using a commonly available and cost-effective bright-field microscope, high-speed polarizing camera, and bespoke image processing software. The platform is designed to monitor harm to health caused by current pollution or climate change to fish populations, as well as to assess the potential muscle and cardiovascular toxicity of new substances or various stressors impact. Toxicity studies can be carried out on model organisms, such as zebrafish (Danio rerio), which have been approved as one of the models for human diseases. Both commercial and wild-caught fish species can be used for ongoing climate and environmental monitoring. Quantitative criteria for the allow for screening and objectively determining the severity of disorders in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems caused by toxicants.