Protocol development for discovery of angiogenesis inhibitors via automated methods using zebrafish

Their optical clarity as larvae and embryos, small size, and high fecundity make zebrafish ideal for whole animal high throughput screening. A high-throughput drug discovery platform (HTP) has been built to perform fully automated screens of compound libraries with zebrafish embryos. A Tg(Flk1:EGFP) line, marking endothelial cell cytoplasm, was used in this work to help develop protocols and functional algorithms for the system, with the intent of screening for angiogenesis inhibitors. Indirubin 3’ Monoxime (I3M), a known angiogenesis inhibitor, was used at various concentrations to validate the protocols. Consistent with previous studies, a dose dependant inhibitory effect of I3M on angiogenesis was confirmed. The methods and protocols developed here could significantly increase the throughput of drug screens, while limiting human errors. These methods are expected to facilitate the discovery of novel anti-angiogenesis compounds and can be adapted for many other applications in which samples have a good fluorescent signal.