ZFBONE: An ImageJ toolset for semi-automatic analysis of zebrafish bone structures

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology and Toxicology
• Developmental Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Increased interest in identifying bone anabolic compounds for skeletal disorders like osteoporosis.
• Zebrafish (Danio rerio) offer advantages over rodent models for drug screening, particularly for osteoactive compounds.
• Current zebrafish screening is limited by the bottleneck of manual image analysis for bone morphometrics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ZFBONE, an open-source toolset for automated zebrafish bone structure image analysis.
• To address the limitations in screening throughput and operator bias in current zebrafish drug discovery pipelines.
• To enhance the accuracy and speed of assessing osteoactivity in zebrafish models.

Main Methods:

• Development of ZFBONE using open-source ImageJ software for broad accessibility and modification.
• Implementation of automated tools for morphometric assessment of various zebrafish bone structures (operculum, fin rays, scales) from 2D images.
• Inclusion of functionalities to quantify bone-specific colorations, assessing extent and intensity.

Main Results:

• ZFBONE significantly accelerates image analysis by automating morphometric assessments.
• The toolset reduces operator bias, leading to increased data accuracy in zebrafish bone analysis.
• ZFBONE provides a user-friendly, rapid, and reliable method for evaluating osteoactive compounds.

Conclusions:

• ZFBONE is a valuable, freely available resource for the zebrafish research community.
• The toolset can standardize zebrafish screening protocols in both academic and industrial settings.
• Automated image analysis with ZFBONE facilitates the discovery of novel bone anabolic compounds.