Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI

The development of zebrafish can be followed over days with light sheet microscopy when embryos are embedded in optically clear polymer tubes with low-concentration agarose.

We describe optimized tools to study the zebrafish heart in vivo with light sheet fluorescence microscopy. Specifically, we suggest bright cardiac transgenic lines and present new gentle embedding and immobilization techniques that avoid developmental and heart defects. A possible data acquisition and analysis pipeline adapted to cardiac imaging is also provided.