PUBLICATION
Conspecific alarm substance differently alters group behavior of zebrafish populations: Putative involvement of cholinergic and purinergic signaling in anxiety- and fear-like responses
- Authors
- Canzian, J., Fontana, B.D., Quadros, V.A., Rosemberg, D.B.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-161224-13
- Date
- 2017
- Source
- Behavioural brain research 320: 255-263 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- Acetylcholinesterase, Alarm substance, Defensive behavior, Nucleotide hydrolysis, Shoaling, Zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- 5'-Nucleotidase/metabolism*
- Acetylcholinesterase/metabolism*
- Analysis of Variance
- Animals
- Animals, Genetically Modified
- Anxiety/metabolism*
- Area Under Curve
- Behavior, Animal/physiology*
- Escape Reaction/physiology*
- Fear*
- Female
- Male
- Zebrafish
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
- PubMed
- 28007536 Full text @ Behav. Brain Res.
Citation
Canzian, J., Fontana, B.D., Quadros, V.A., Rosemberg, D.B. (2017) Conspecific alarm substance differently alters group behavior of zebrafish populations: Putative involvement of cholinergic and purinergic signaling in anxiety- and fear-like responses. Behavioural brain research. 320:255-263.
Abstract
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is an emergent model organism for assessing fear and anxiety-like phenotypes. The short fin wild type (WT), and leopard (leo) are two zebrafish populations that present several behavioral differences, in which leo displays pronounced defensive responses. Mounting evidence suggests a modulatory role for cholinergic and purinergic signaling in fear and anxiety, but the involvement of these neurotransmitter systems in the behavioral profile of zebrafish is obscure. Here we tested whether the acute exposure to conspecific alarm substance (AS), an experimental protocol that induces fear, alters shoaling behavior, diving response, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and nucleotide hydrolysis in brain tissue of WT and leo. When four fish were concomitantly exposed to AS extracted from a donor fish of similar phenotype, both populations presented a significant increase of erratic movements without changes in freezing bouts. An increased shoal cohesion and a decreased vertical distribution were observed only in WT exposed to AS. The respective population also revealed a significant increase in AChE and ecto-5'-nucleotidase activities after the exposure period. The comparison of basal endpoints between populations showed that leo displays a higher social cohesion, few vertical transitions and enhanced AChE and ecto-5'-nucleotidase activities. In conclusion, we suggest that the effects of AS on defensive behaviors depend on the population, indicating the existence of distinct neurochemical mechanisms involved. Furthermore, this report shows the first evidence of a potential role of cholinergic and purinergic systems in fear- and anxiety-like responses of zebrafish populations.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping