The way an animal responds to novel stimuli in the environment depends on its internal state. Animals that have recently had a stressful experience, for example, are more likely to be wary of novel stimuli. This assay measures the response of Zebrafish larvae to a sudden transition to darkness.
Larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) are highly sensitive to light (Burgess and Granato, 2007). They display regular rates of motion while swimming under even illumination, and can react to a sudden change in light with stereotyped locomotion alterations. This makes them ideal for studies of internal states (De Marco et al., 2016) and behavioural screens. The Zantiks MWP unit allows for measuring the activity of multiple larvae and control light of varying power and wavelength.
Experimental set up
Larval zebrafish are placed individually in each well of a 6, 12, 24, 48 or 96 well plate.
Experimental procedure
The multi-well plate with larvae is inserted into the chamber of the Zantiks MWP unit. The script can be written to control single or multiple light transitions. The length and power and wavelength of the stimuli can be controlled and automated in script as well as control of the system's temperature. The locomotor activity of each larva (measured as distance travelled) is measured and written to a data file which is exported as a .csv file of processed data at the end of the experiment.
Results
Zebrafish larvae in a 24-well plate during a light/dark transition test. (1 frame per sec.)
