Zebrafish Health Monitoring Services

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a growing vertebrate model for research and has been used to answer pertinent scientific questions in a variety of biomedical research fields including neuroscience, developmental biology, toxicology, oncology and many others. The use of zebrafish in biomedical research has increased and diversified significantly in the past 30 years. The health status in zebrafish, like other animal models, can be highly impactful on the research outcomes.

At many institutions, the centralization of zebrafish facilities promotes better husbandry practices, fosters collaboration, improves operational efficiencies, and facilitates fish transfers among investigators. But, as zebrafish facilities increase in size and complexity, so does the risk associated with infectious disease.  Infectious agents present within a colony may have a great impact on zebrafish health and research results. Monitoring the presence of pathogens allows actions to be taken to improve health and reduce mortality owing to disease, as well as improve the cost-effectiveness of research. Knowing the health status facilitates to define quarantine procedures when exchanging colonies to refresh the wild-type genetic pool or to import new genetically altered lines.

Creative Biogene, a zebrafish research company with experienced scientists and advanced technology, has developed a comprehensive array of diagnostic services to proactively monitor the health of your zebrafish colonies. These diagnostic services can be utilized to analyze specific or suspected disease problems. Our portfolio services include health monitoring, histopathology, bacteriology, and infectious disease PCR.

• Necropsy
• Histopathology: Processing with H&E Stain, Special Staining, and Pathologist Interpretation
• Pathogen detection using real-time PCR: Edwardsiella ictaluri, Flavobacterium columnare, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), Infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV), Mycobacterium abscessus, Mycobacterium chelonae, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium haemophilum, Mycobacterium marinum, Mycobacterium peregrinum, Piscinoodinium pillulare, Pleistophora hyphessobryconis, Pseudocapillaria tomentosa, Pseudoloma neurophilia
• Diagnostic microbiology
• Zebrafish embryos for PCR test
• Live feed cultures for PCR test

From designing an assay for your study to consulting on results, Creative Biogene is always eager to help. Please email for request forms or for further information.

References

1. Miller M, et al. Combining fish and environmental PCR for diagnostics of diseased laboratory zebrafish in recirculating systems. PloS one, 2019, 14(9).
2. Collymore C, et al. Recommendations for health monitoring and reporting for zebrafish research facilities. Zebrafish, 2016, 13(S1): S-138-S-148.
3. Mocho J P. Three-dimensional screen: A comprehensive approach to the health monitoring of zebrafish. Zebrafish, 2016, 13(S1): S-132-S-137.

For research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.