Presenting Author National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
The homeostasis of calcium ions is important for regulating the electro-mechanical coupling of the heart. Hence, disturbance of the calcium homeostasis may impair both cardiac electrophysiology and cardiac function. Here we present the use of light-sheet imaging and image processing algorithm to reconstruct dynamic 3D cardiac images and determine the calcium dynamics of zebrafish heart. We quantified the stroke volume and the ejection fraction from reconstructed dynamic 3D cardiac images. Furthermore, we restored motion-artifact-free local calcium transients of a beating heart, from which the propagation of the cardiac calcium signaling was determined. Lastly, we studied chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity and showed that doxorubicin caused multiple cardiotoxic effects on larval zebrafish, including impaired cardiac chamber structure, decreased cardiac function, prolonged local calcium transients, and delayed calcium signaling propagation. We anticipate that our novel approach will spark applications that require accurate and simultaneous assessment of cardiac function and calcium dynamics.
Support or Funding Information
The author acknowledges the support from Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.
