A versatile, automated and high-throughput drug screening platform for zebrafish embryos

Zebrafish provide a unique opportunity for drug screening in living animals, with the fast-developing, transparent embryos allowing for relatively high-throughput, microscopy-based screens. However, the limited availability of rapid, flexible imaging and analysis platforms has limited the use of zebrafish in drug screens. We have developed an easy-to-use, customisable automated screening procedure suitable for high-throughput phenotype-based screens of live zebrafish. We utilised the WiScan (R) Hermes High Content Imaging System to rapidly acquire brightfield and fluorescent images of embryos, and the WiSoft (R) Athena Zebrafish Application for analysis, which harnesses an Artificial Intelligence-driven algorithm to automatically detect fish in brightfield images, identify anatomical structures, partition the animal into regions and exclusively select the desired side-oriented fish. Our initial validation combined structural analysis with fluorescence images to enumerate GFP-tagged haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the tails of embryos, which correlated with manual counts. We further validated this system to assess the effects of genetic mutations and X-ray irradiation in high content using a wide range of assays. Further, we performed simultaneous analysis of multiple cell types using dual fluorophores in high throughput. In summary, we demonstrate a broadly applicable and rapidly customisable platform for high-content screening in zebrafish. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Automated summary

Zebrafish offer a unique opportunity for drug screening in living animals, but the limited availability of imaging and analysis platforms has restricted their use. Researchers developed an easy-to-use automated screening procedure for high-throughput phenotype-based screens of live zebrafish, utilizing AI and brightfield/fluorescent imaging. The system was validated for various assays and proved to be a broadly applicable and rapidly customizable platform for high-content screening in zebrafish.