Selective Cardiomyocyte Ablation in Zebrafish

Tg(vmhc:mCherry-NTR) larvae at 72 hpf were treated with 6 mmol/L MTZ (Metronidazole, Sigma) in E3 water for 4 h as previously described (Zhang et al., 2013 (link)). As controls, age-matched Tg(vmhc:mCherry-NTR) siblings were incubated in 0.2% DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, Fisher Scientific) in E3 water for the same period. To stop blood flow, control or ablated Tg(vmhc:mCherry-NTR) larvae were treated with 1.8 mmol/L Tricaine (3-aminobenzoic acid ethyl ester, Sigma) or 10 mmol/L BDM (2,3-Butanedione monoxime, Sigma) in E3 water from 15 hpt for 9 h at 28 °C. Treated larvae were washed three times with fresh E3 water at the end of ablation, Tricaine or BDM treatment and then allowed to continue to grow in fresh E3 water.