Table 2.

Comparison of Drosophila cardiac phenotyping methods

	Whole mount staining/histology	Edge-effect microscopy	Optical Coherence Tomography
Pros	-Detailed structural information -Gene expression	-Detailed information about heart rate and periodicity	-Performed on awake, adult specimens -Non-invasive, non-destructive -Serial measurements from same fly -provides images that are similar to echocardiography in humans -Can visualize the heart during the entire cardiac cycle -Can readily visualize the endocardium and calculated EDD, ESD without significant post-image processing -Can image individual flies quickly (∼3 minutes per fly)
Cons	-Dissected/fixed specimens -Does not provide information about cardiac function	-Requires significant post-imaging analysis -Requires assumptions about the identity of the endocardial edge thus making evaluation of EDD/ESD difficult -Usually performed with dissected specimens	-Requires custom built microscopy system -Resolution to ∼10-20 microns