An Intraperitoneal Injection Technique in Adult Zebrafish that Minimizes Body Damage and Associated Mortality

We aim to generate anthracycline induced cardiotoxicity models in adult zebrafish so that we can discover new therapeutic genes and compounds. A reliable IP injection method is essential to ensure the success of this project. So previously developed IP injection methods are the classic and alternative techniques.

While the classic method penetrates the fish from the abdominal site through midline between the pelvic fins, the alternative method penetrates the fish from the dorsal site located between the pelvic and the anal fins. Owing to the toxicity of doxorubicin, significant body damage and mortality of the fish have been noted using the current two IP methods. New investigators need to be extensively trained before disease models can be reliably established in their hands.

We designed a new IP injection method by adjusting the needle penetration location and the needle penetration angle. We inject through a natural hole located in the ventral region between pectoral fins and penetrate through a unique anterior to posterior direction.