{
  "abstract": "Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy has transformed our ability to visualise dynamic cellular processes in vivo. However, the beating heart poses a major challenge due to the constant motion as it beats. One way around this is to stop the heart and image in static, but this inherently disrupts its function. Alternatively, the heart must be imaged continuously, and a single phase identified retrospectively, but this exposes the heart to high doses of light, which in itself is damaging. This limits our understanding of key processes in cardiac development. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a heartbeat-synchronised selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) system that actively triggers fluorescence image acquisition at a precise phase of the cardiac cycle. The system utilises brightfield videos to track heartbeat phase in real-time, computationally ‘freezing’ cardiac motion and capturing stable 3D image stacks across developmental time points without resorting to pharmacological arrest or high-intensity retrospective imaging. We applied this method to dual-labelled transgenic zebrafish lines in which cardiomyocyte nuclei and membranes are labelled, and combined it with automated cell tracking to reconstruct dynamic maps of cardiomyocyte behaviour between 3–5 days post-fertilisation. This approach enables quantitative, long-term, high-resolution imaging of the developing heart in vivo under physiological conditions.We are now extending this platform to zebrafish models of cardiomyopathy, specifically focusing on mutations of LMNA, to investigate early cellular mechanisms underlying disease, with the aim of uncovering new targets for early intervention in heart failure.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Edinburgh"
      ],
      "name": "Emma Kals"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Glasgow"
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Geddes"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Glasgow"
      ],
      "name": "Jonny Taylor"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Edinburgh"
      ],
      "name": "Martin Denvir"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P17  Heartbeat-synchronized SPIM imaging enables high-resolution mapping of cardiomyocyte proliferation during Zebrafish heart development",
  "uid": "100e068e-6f20-54ff-8cb3-50ca60dff31f"
}