PUBLICATION

Acute effects of alcohol on larval zebrafish: a genetic system for large-scale screening

Authors
Lockwood, B., Bjerke, S., Kobayashi, K., and Guo, S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-040312-6
Date
2004
Source
Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior   77(3): 647-654 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Guo, Su
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Ethanol/administration & dosage*
  • Genetic Testing/methods*
  • Locomotion/drug effects
  • Locomotion/genetics
  • Zebrafish/embryology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/growth & development*
PubMed
15006478 Full text @ Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.
Abstract
Larval zebrafish are used extensively for developmental genetic studies due to their salient features, such as small size, external development, optical transparency, and accessibility in large numbers. However, their use for the study of drug and alcohol abuse has not been explored. Here we investigated the response of larval zebrafish to acute treatment of alcohol. Our analyses showed that like adults, the larval zebrafish exhibited a dose-dependent locomotor response to ethanol: intermediate doses led to hyperactivity, whereas high doses have a neurodepressive effect resulting in hypoactivity and sedation. Alcohol also induced morphological changes of melanocytes, providing a visible cellular measure of the biological effects of alcohol in vivo. In addition, alcohol induced thigmotaxis behavior (preference for the edge of a compartment). In the behaviors we analyzed, genetic background influenced the locomotor responses to alcohol. The present study demonstrates that larval zebrafish exert a response to the acute treatment of alcohol, which is genetically modifiable. Therefore, the larval zebrafish represent a tractable vertebrate model system for a large-scale genetic analysis of the biological effects of alcohol.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping