Enhanced Drug Screening Efficacy in Zebrafish Using a High Oxygen-Permeable Culture Plate

Zebrafish are model organisms for drug screening owing to their transparent bodies, rapid embryonic development, and genetic similarities with humans. However, using standard polystyrene culture plates can limit the oxygen supply, potentially affecting embryo survival and the reliability of assays conducted in zebrafish. In this study, we evaluated the application of a novel, highly oxygen-permeable culture plate (InnoCellTM) in zebrafish development and drug screening assays. Under both normal and oxygen-restricted conditions, zebrafish embryos cultured on InnoCellTM plates exhibited significantly improved developmental parameters, including heart rate and body length, compared with those cultured on conventional polystyrene plates. The InnoCellTM plate enabled a significant reduction in medium volume without compromising zebrafish embryo viability, thereby demonstrating its advantages, particularly in high-throughput 384-well formats. Drug screening tests using antiangiogenic receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) revealed enhanced sensitivity and more pronounced biological effects in InnoCellTM plates, as evidenced by quantification of intersegmental blood vessels and gene expression analysis of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (kdrl). These results indicate that the InnoCellTM high oxygen-permeable plate markedly improves zebrafish-based drug screening efficiency and assay reliability, highlighting its potential for widespread application in biomedical research.