Korean Circ J.  2023 Jan;53(1):34-46. 10.4070/kcj.2022.0210.

Development of a Zebrafish Larvae Model for Diabetic Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction

• Kim I
• Seok SH
• Lee HY

• KMID: 2538103
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.2022.0210

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Diabetes mellitus (DM)-associated heart failure (HF) causes high morbidity and mortality. In this study, we established a zebrafish larvae model for in vivo research on diabetic HF.
Methods
DM-like phenotypes were induced by treating zebrafish larvae with a combination of D-glucose (GLU) and streptozotocin (STZ). HF was induced by treatment with terfenadine (TER), a potassium channel blocker. Additionally, myocardial contractility, motility, and viability were evaluated.
Results
The zebrafish larvae treated with a combination of GLU and STZ showed significantly higher whole-body glucose concentrations, lower insulin levels, and higher phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase levels, which are markers of abnormal glucose homeostasis, than the group treated with only GLU, with no effect on viability. When treated with TER, DM zebrafish showed significantly less myocardial fractional shortening and more irregular contractions than the non-DM zebrafish. Furthermore, in DM-HF with reduced ejection fraction (rEF) zebrafish, a significant increase in the levels of natriuretic peptide B, a HF biomarker, markedly reduced motility, and reduced survival rates were observed.
Conclusions
We established a DM-HFrEF zebrafish model by sequentially treating zebrafish larvae with GLU, STZ, and TER. Our findings indicate the potential utility of the developed zebrafish larvae model not only in screening studies of new drug candidates for DM-HFrEF but also in mechanistic studies to understand the pathophysiology of DM-HFrEF.

Keyword

Diabetes mellitus; Heart failure; Zebrafish