Monitor developmental toxicity in zebrafish larvae continuously over time — morphology changes, survival, behavioral endpoints — brightfield time-lapse inside your incubator. 24 wells simultaneously. No fluorescent labels required.
Book Free Demo All Brightfield Applications →Zebrafish larvae bridge the gap between in vitro cell assays and expensive rodent models. Transparent, rapidly developing, and genetically 70% homologous to humans — they enable in vivo toxicity readouts at high throughput and low cost. No ethical approval required before independent feeding (before 5 dpf in most jurisdictions).
Zebrafish larvae are optically transparent in early life stages — internal organs, heart, vasculature and morphological changes all visible in brightfield without staining.
Key developmental milestones occur within 24–120 hours post-fertilization. Drug effects on development, organ formation, and survival are observable within days, not weeks.
70% genetic homology with humans. Drug-induced developmental toxicity, cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity — all detectable in larval zebrafish at relevant concentrations.
One larva per well in 24-well plates. 24 concentrations or conditions screened simultaneously. Continuous time-lapse captures the full kinetic toxicity profile — not just the endpoint.
Compared to rodent studies: faster, cheaper, higher throughput, and ethically preferable. Zebrafish larval assays are increasingly accepted in early-phase drug safety screening.
Morphology changes, survival, heart rate, and locomotion — all measurable in brightfield. No dyes required. No phototoxicity. Monitor the same larvae continuously for 72+ hours.
The following endpoints are measurable by brightfield time-lapse with zenCELL owl — no fluorescent labels, no staining, no protocol modification beyond standard zebrafish husbandry.
Continuous monitoring captures the exact timepoint of lethality — not just a 24h or 48h endpoint count. LC50 kinetics from a single experiment across 24 concentrations.
Body axis defects, pericardial edema, yolk sac absorption, tail malformations — visible in brightfield. Captured automatically at every timepoint without handling the larvae.
Rhythmic cardiac contractions are visible as motion in brightfield time-lapse. Bradycardia, tachycardia, and arrhythmia detectable by frame-to-frame motion analysis.
Delayed or failed hatching is a sensitive developmental toxicity endpoint. Continuous imaging captures hatching time per well — not reliant on manual observation.
Hypo- or hyperactivity induced by neurotoxic compounds visible as movement in time-lapse brightfield. Quantifiable as frame-to-frame pixel displacement over time.
Growth retardation is a dose-dependent toxicity endpoint. Body length measured from brightfield images at each timepoint — no anaesthesia, no handling required.
Compatible with standard 24-well plates. Works alongside your existing zebrafish facility incubator. No system modifications required.
Collect zebrafish embryos at the desired developmental stage (typically 4–24 hpf). Dechorionate if required for your assay. Transfer one embryo or larva per well into a 24-well plate with E3 medium.
Standard zebrafish husbandryAdd test compound, control, or vehicle to each well. Recommended: 500 µL E3 medium per well. DMSO concentration ≤0.1% for solvent controls. 24 conditions in one plate.
24 concentrations simultaneouslyPlace the 24-well plate directly on zenCELL owl inside your zebrafish incubator (28°C). Connect via USB-C to your PC. No temperature disruption — the device operates inside the incubator.
⏱ Setup <5 minutesSet imaging interval (5–60 minutes recommended for zebrafish larvae), experiment duration (24–120 hours), and select wells. AI autofocus calibrates per well. Press start — system runs unattended.
Fully automated · no manual timepointsCheck brightfield images from any PC at any time. After experiment: export AVI time-lapse video per well, PNG image stack, and CSV data. Compatible with ImageJ for morphological quantification.
Export: AVI · PNG · CSV · ImageJzenCELL owl captures the full kinetic toxicity profile — not just T24 or T48 endpoints. Onset of cardiac toxicity at T6, hatching at T36, behavioral changes at T72 — all captured automatically in a single unattended experiment.
The standard zenCELL owl FOV (1.08 mm²) covers early-stage embryos and behavioral monitoring of larvae. For full-body imaging of larger larvae (3–5 dpf, 3–4 mm body length), the optional zenCELL owl XYZ SCAN Stage Add-on enables automatic image stitching — multiple adjacent FOVs are captured and merged into a single full-body brightfield image per larva per timepoint.
This enables full morphological quantification — body axis length, organ area, yolk sac absorption — across all 24 wells, continuously, without handling the larvae. Contact us for current XYZ stage specifications and zebrafish alignment plate compatibility.
Four systems are commonly used for zebrafish imaging and toxicity screening. Each covers a different use case — here is where they differ and when zenCELL owl is the right choice.
| Característica | zenCELL owl | VAST BioImager | DanioVision | ACQUIFER HIVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary use case | Continuous time-lapse toxicity monitoring — kinetic, 24-well, unattended | High-content morphological imaging — single timepoint, oriented larvae | Behavioral locomotion tracking — activity, light/dark response | Automated fluorescence HCS — plate-based, multi-channel |
| Imaging modality | ✓ Brightfield · label-free | Brightfield + fluorescence | Brightfield (IR video) | Brightfield + fluorescence (multi-channel) |
| Continuous time-lapse | ✓ Every 5 min · 72h+ unattended | ✗ Single timepoint per load | ✓ Video tracking · short intervals | ✓ Multi-timepoint possible |
| Inside incubator | ✓ Any standard incubator · 28°C | ✗ Benchtop — larvae removed | ✗ Benchtop only | Plate-based · environmental control |
| Larva handling required | ✓ None — plate stays in incubator | ✗ Capillary loading per larva | Plate transfer per timepoint | Automated plate handling |
| Anaesthesia required | ✓ No — larvae free-swimming | ✗ Yes — for orientation | ✓ No | Depends on assay |
| Wells simultaneously | ✓ 24 (96 with XYZ stage) | Sequential per larva | ✓ Up to 96 | ✓ Full plate |
| Kinetic toxicity profile | ✓ Full — every 5 min over 72h+ | ✗ Endpoint only | ✓ Behavioral kinetics | Multi-timepoint · not continuous |
| Fluorescence channels | No — brightfield only | ✓ Yes — multi-channel | No | ✓ Yes — primary strength |
| Price range | ✓ from €14,000 · no annual fee | €80,000–150,000+ | €30,000–60,000 | €100,000–200,000+ |
| Best for | Kinetic tox monitoring · survival · morphology over time · cardiac · behavioral | High-content morphology · organ imaging · fluorescent transgenic lines | Behavioral screening · locomotion · light/dark response · neurotoxicity | Fluorescence HCS · multi-channel · automated plate handling |
If your assay requires continuous kinetic monitoring of survival, morphology, cardiac endpoints, or behavioral changes over 24–120 hours — without anaesthesia, without handling, and without removing larvae from the incubator — zenCELL owl covers this at a fraction of the cost of VAST or ACQUIFER. For fluorescence-based organ imaging or high-content morphological screening of oriented larvae, VAST BioImager or ACQUIFER are the established tools.
zenCELL owl covers the full spectrum of brightfield toxicity assays — from in vitro cell-based assays to in vivo zebrafish larval monitoring.
Early embryos (4–48 hpf) fit comfortably within the standard 1.08 mm² FOV. For larvae at 3–5 dpf (3–4 mm body length), the XYZ SCAN stage add-on enables image stitching for full-body coverage. Contact us for current specifications and recommendations for your specific experimental stage.
For the brightfield endpoints described on this page — survival, morphology, cardiac motion, hatching, locomotion, body length — no fluorescence is required. For fluorescence-based endpoints such as GFP reporter lines, fluorescent viability dyes, or organ-specific markers, a fluorescence system is required. zenCELL owl covers the brightfield-compatible subset of zebrafish toxicity assays.
Yes. zenCELL owl is designed to operate inside any standard CO₂ incubator. Zebrafish larvae are typically maintained at 28°C — within the operating range of zenCELL owl. The device connects via USB-C to a PC outside the incubator. No CO₂ is required for zebrafish E3 medium, so standard laboratory incubators (without CO₂) work equally well.
Manual zebrafish toxicity assays require removing plates from the incubator at each timepoint, observing each well under a stereomicroscope, and recording endpoints manually. This is time-consuming, introduces temperature variation, and limits temporal resolution to 2–4 timepoints per experiment. zenCELL owl captures images every 5–60 minutes across all 24 wells simultaneously — unattended, inside the incubator, for the full duration of the experiment.
Zebrafish larval monitoring with zenCELL owl is an emerging application based on the validated brightfield time-lapse platform. We are actively building this application and welcome early-access collaborations. If you are working with zebrafish toxicity assays and interested in evaluating zenCELL owl, contact us directly to discuss your specific requirements and current system specifications.
Free 20-minute remote demo — see zenCELL owl brightfield time-lapse live, inside a real incubator. Discuss zebrafish compatibility for your assay.
Book Free Demo Ask About Zebrafish →
English English
Deutsch
Français
Español
简体中文
Mira la imagen de zenCELL owl en vivo dentro de una incubadora. Disponible.