A Nondestructive Method of Measuring Zebrafish Adipose Tissue Based on Micro-Computed Tomography (Micro-CT)

Abstract

Due to problems such as unbalanced intake of nutrients or excessive intake of energy, cultured fish accumulate fat in places such as the abdominal cavity, liver, and muscle, resulting in fatty liver, reducing the quality of fish meat, and even causing many fish deaths, resulting in losses to aquaculture production. Therefore, research on lipid metabolism in fish is important and has attracted increasing attention. The detection of fish body fat distribution and content is a key to such research. The existing methods for detecting fat distribution and content in fish have limitations, such as cumbersome procedures and damage to fish tissues, and thus, is imperative to develop a simple, fast, nondestructive fat detection technology. Taking zebrafish as the research material, this study established an imaging technology for the rapid and nondestructive detection of the fat distribution and content of fish by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), optimized the fat CT-scanning method, determined the steps of fat quantitation in the CTAn data processing software, and constructed a three-dimensional (3D) model of zebrafish adipose tissue. This technology reveals the distribution of fish adipose tissue in an all-round way, and thus, it will play an important role in the study of lipid metabolism in fish.

wnt16 regulates spine and muscle morphogenesis through parallel signals from notochord and dermomyotome

“…Because of the reduced accuracy in discriminating between skeletal muscle and presumptive adipose tissue, and the fact that presumptive adipose tissue was not uniformly visible in wildtype and mutant fish, presumptive adipose tissue was included in calculations of lean tissue volume. When visible, we estimate that presumptive adipose tissue was a minor component (∼10%) of lean tissue volumes, and comparable to values computed elsewhere (Wang et al, 2021). Processed images were used to visualize and quantify lean mass independently of bony tissue (Fig 8A).…”

wnt16 regulates spine and muscle morphogenesis through parallel signals from notochord and dermomyotome

“…Comparison of areas of tissue derived via automatic and manual segmentation revealed a high correlation for lean and bone tissue (S8 Fig) . Lower correlation was obtained for presumptive adipose tissue (S8 Fig) . Because of the reduced accuracy in discriminating between skeletal muscle and presumptive adipose tissue, and the fact that presumptive adipose tissue was not uniformly visible in wildtype and mutant fish, presumptive adipose tissue was included in calculations of lean tissue volume. When visible, we estimate that presumptive adipose tissue was a minor component (~10%) of lean tissue volumes, and comparable to values computed elsewhere [45]. Processed images were used to visualize and quantify lean mass independently of bony tissue (Fig 8A).…”