CellFish

The recent decades proved that zebrafish is a preferred research subject in cardiac research, especially in heart physiological and pharmacological tests. Electrophysiology of the zebrafish heart shows similarity in many points to that of mammals used at present as experimental moddels (e.g.: ion channels, ECG, etc.), and it has a unique development physiological applicability. Based on the similarities revealed, the cellular techniques (standard microelectrode, patch clamp) applied for mammals also appeared in zebrafish studies.

The workstation consists of the following units:

• Mechanical unit
• Measuring system:
          - High input impedance, low noise amplifier (EXP-INT-1)
          - Data display, storage and analysis hardware/software (SPEL INTRASYS)

Operation modes of the organ bath for adult fish heart preparation

Open circuit
The physiological solution constantly flows in the organ chamber and the maintenance of the proper fluid level is provided by pump suction.

Closed circuit
The flow of the physiological solution is suspended: tap 1 closed, tap 3 open, pump stopped. The solution is added to the organ.

The setup of equipment necessary for the experiment

One of the advantages of the mechanical design of the system is that the equipment necessary for the experiment (pl.: manipulators, organ bath, lighting, etc.) can be arranged on the top plate of the bench in the most convenient position. Another advantage is that the organ bath can be changed in the slot of the table to fit any species. Setting the position of impalement supported by the longitudinal adjustability of the organ bath. This solution allows the simultaneous measurement of multiple embryos.

The measuring system

The measuring system consists of three main units:

•  EXP-INT-1 high input impedance(1012Ώ), low noise, low capacity (25pF) amplifier,
•  EXP-ST-A1 isolated stimulator end stage (10V/10mA),
•  SPEL INTRASYS measurement, analysis and data storage hardware-software system with stimulator module.