Patent ID: 7488467

Claim:
A method of assaying lipid or cholesterol metabolism, or a combination thereof, in a vertebrate's digestive system by a high through-put assay in a teleost. the method comprising: providing fluorescently labeled , quenched or unquenched lipid reporters, wherein fluorescent moieties are covalently linked to the lipid and/or cholesterol being assayed, such that the resulting lipid reporters are absorbed by the vertebrate's digestive system or function as substrates for target enzymes in the vertebrate's digestive system: bathing the teleosts in media comprising the labeled lipid reporters, such that the lipid reporters are ingested by the teleost into its digestive system: screening for and detecting accumulated fluorescence in digestive organs of the teleost as an indicator of metabolic processing or uptake of the lipid reporter in the digestive system: and quantifying the amount and rate of fluorescence from the processed or unprocessed fluorescently labeled lipid reporters in the digestive organs of the teleost, providing a high through-put readout of digestive organ function, physiology of the digestive system and organs, and metabolic lipid processing.