PUBLICATION

The impact of housing environment color on zebrafish anxiety-like behavioral and physiological (cortisol) responses

Authors
de Abreu, M.S., C V V Giacomini, A., Genario, R., Dos Santos, B.E., Marcon, L., Demin, K.A., Kalueff, A.V.
ID
ZDB-PUB-200504-4
Date
2020
Source
General and comparative endocrinology   294: 113499 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Kalueff, Allan V.
Keywords
anxiety, behavior, color, cortisol, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Anxiety/physiopathology*
  • Behavior, Animal*
  • Female
  • Housing, Animal*
  • Hydrocortisone/metabolism*
  • Male
  • Models, Animal
  • Zebrafish/physiology*
PubMed
32360541 Full text @ Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.
Abstract
Color of the environment is an important factor modulating human and animal behavior and physiology. Animal models are a valuable tool to understand how colors affect social, cognitive and affective responses. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is rapidly emerging as an important organism in neuroscience and physiology. Here, we examine whether the color of housing environment influences zebrafish anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol levels. Overall, housing for 15 days in transparent and white holding tanks increases, and in black or blue tanks decreases, baseline anxiety-like behavior in adult zebrafish. Housing in blue tanks (vs. white) also reduced their cortisol levels. Taken together, our data suggest that color of the housing environment is an important factor that affects neurobehavioral and endocrine responses in zebrafish. Our study also reinforces zebrafish as a promising model organism to study neurobiology of compex brain-environment interactions.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping