title: Establishment and optimization of a high throughput setup to study Staphylococcus epidermidis and Mycobacterium marinum infection as a model for drug discovery.
abstract: Zebrafish are becoming a valuable tool in the preclinical phase of drug discovery screenings as a whole animal model with high throughput screening possibilities. They can be used to bridge the gap between cell based assays at earlier stages and in vivo validation in mammalian models, reducing, in this way, the number of compounds passing through to testing on the much more expensive rodent models. In this light, in the present manuscript is described a new high throughput pipeline using zebrafish as in vivo model system for the study of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Mycobacterium marinum infection. This setup allows the generation and analysis of large number of synchronous embryos homogenously infected. Moreover the flexibility of the pipeline allows the user to easily implement other platforms to improve the resolution of the analysis when needed. The combination of the zebrafish together with innovative high throughput technologies opens the field of drug testing and discovery to new possibilities not only because of the strength of using a whole animal model but also because of the large number of transgenic lines available that can be used to decipher the mode of action of new compounds.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, Leiden University; w.j.veneman@biology.leidenuniv.nl.
authors.forename: Wouter J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Veneman
authors.affiliation: ZF-screens BV.
authors.forename: Rubén
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marín-Juez
authors.affiliation: Life Science Methods BV.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Sonneville
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, Leiden University.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ordas
authors.affiliation: ZF-screens BV.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jong-Raadsen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, Leiden University.
authors.forename: Annemarie H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, Leiden University; h.p.spaink@biology.leidenuniv.nl.
authors.forename: Herman P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Spaink
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D019910:Mycobacterium marinum / Q000254:growth & development; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000254:growth & development; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents