Rapid analysis of hypolipidemic drugs in a live zebrafish assay

Introduction Hyperlipidemia is the most common form of dyslipidemia , which is the key risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke. The development of effective and safe drug treatments for hyperlipidemia has been proven challenging. Methods In this study, taking advantage of the transparency of larval zebrafish, we developed a zebrafish hyperlipidemia model for drug screening and efficacy assessment. Zebrafish at 5 d.p.f (days post fertilization) were fed with 0.1% egg yolk for 48   h (hours), followed by drug treatment for 24   h or 48   h. Tested drugs were administered into the zebrafish by direct soaking. Drug effect was evaluated based on quantitative analysis of Oil Red O (ORO) in zebrafish vena caudalis. Results All 5 human hypolipidemic drugs (simvastatin, lovastatin , ezetimibe , bezafibrate and hyodesoxycholic acid) showed significant hypolipidemic effects ( p   <   0.01) in a dose-dependent manner in the zebrafish hyperlipidemia model. 'We also found a well-known Chinese tea Pu-erh tea significantly reduced lipids in this model ( p   <   0.001 and p   <   0.01). Discussion Our results demonstrate that the zebrafish hyperlipidemia model developed and validated in this study could be used for in vivo hyperlipidemia studies and drug screening and for assessing hypolipidemic drugs with different mechanisms.