Electric potential sensors: novel biosensors for cardio-electrophysiology in embryos

Currently, there is no effective sensing technology available to monitor the electrocardiogram(ECG) activity of the living zebrafish heart during early developmental stages. Most of the methods are based either on the use of simple visual inspections which are limited to quantifying the heart-rate or invasive methodologies which require the insertion of electrodes or heart explantation techniques, both requiring the use of expensive differential amplifiers and noise isolated environments. In this paper we report the continuous detection of the cardiac electrical activity in embryonic zebrafish using a non-invasive approach. We present a portable and cost-effective platform based on the Sussex patented Electric Potential Sensing(EPS) technology, to monitor in vivo electrocardiogram activity from the zebrafish heart. We present results using the experimental prototype, which enables the acquisition of cardio-electrophysiological signals from in vivo 3, 4 and 5 days-post-fertilization(dpf) zebrafish embryos.