High-Throughput Data Acquisition Platform for Multi-Larvae Touch-Response Behavior Screening of Zebrafish

Touch response of zebrafish larvae refers to the behaviors after the mechanical stimuli that varies under different conditions (different drugs), and statistical analysis of the behaviors in the organism level is becoming more attractive in drug screening. Collecting repeatable and reliable experimental data on the alive animals in a high-throughput manner is of importance and challenging. Thus, we for the first time introduce a multi-larvae experimentation platform for the fully automated data acquisition to screen the touch-response behaviors of zebrafish in the high-throughput manner. A multi-larvae touching strategy is designed for this platform, which provides a new alternative method to generate touch-response experimental data in a higher efficiency than in the single-larva case (in average 3.58 videos collected per well instead of only one, with 33.00 s duration on each larva instead of 55.95 s). As well, for the proof of the concept, the unknown parameters used for the strategy are decided by experiments. This platform will help in the high-throughput screening of the drugs in the whole animal (organism) level.