Quantitative assessment of cardiac function

Offspring of the gtpbp3 heterozygous Tg (cmlc2: egfp) were used for evaluation of cardiac function (60). The time-lapse image data analyses were performed as described previously (61,62). 5 dpf living larvae were transferred onto glass slides with drops of methylcellulose, and laid at the same orientation before videos were taken. The ventricles of the embedded larvae were observed under an epifluorescence microscope (SMZ25; Nikon, Tokyo, Japan), and images were recorded at 100 frames/s for 10 s. Time-lapse images, the long and short axis diastolic and systolic diameters of the ventricle were measured using Olympus software CellSense.