A comparison of the light/dark and novel tank tests in zebrafish

Fingerprinting of Psychoactive Drugs in Zebrafish Anxiety-Like Behaviors

“…We underscore that the outstanding predictive validity of the proposed assay is also accompanied by construct validity [6], [41], [42], which enriches and directs the predictive validity of the model. Therefore, light/dark preference in adult animals can complement traditional target-based discovery methodologies, combining the physiological complexity of in vivo assays with medium-to-high-throughput, low-cost screening [63]. This has been done previously – albeit with a limited amount of drug treatments – with the novel tank test, with results similar to those presented here: caffeine, for example, clustered among anxiogenic manipulations, while chronic fluoxetine clustered among anxiolytic manipulations [15].…”

“…Caution should be taken, however, in generalizing results from both assays, since drug effects in the light/dark and in the novel tank tests are not always the same – and, in fact, some drugs, such as pCPA and acute fluoxetine, produce opposite effects in each test [58]. Moreover, there is substantial evidence for different stimulus control in these tests [63], reinforcing the hypothesis that they model different aspects of anxiety-like behavior. While it is not fully understood whether exposure to the light/dark test could impact latter testing with the novel tank test, in principle both tests could be used in a 'test battery' of behavioral assays.…”

The integration of sociality, monoamines and stress neuroendocrinology in fish models: applications in the neurosciences

“…These results suggested that serotonin has a dual role in controlling defensive behaviour in D. rerio , with opposite effects in the light–dark test and the novel‐tank test. These discrepancies could be due to differences in stimulus control in both tests, while white avoidance–dark preference in the light–dark test is controlled by an approach–avoidance conflict, bottom‐dwelling–top avoidance in the novel‐tank test is controlled by escape from the top (Maximino et al ., ). This stimulus control is reminiscent of Gray's theory on the difference between fear and anxiety (Gray & McNaughton, ; McNaughton & Corr, ), suggesting that 5‐HT could have a differential role in fear v .…”

“…Nonetheless, D. rerio are the most widely studied species when it comes to responses to threatening and aversive stimuli (Jesuthasan & Mathuru, ; Maximino et al ., ; Kalueff et al ., ; Gerlai, ). Two assays, the novel‐tank test (Egan et al ., ) and the light–dark test (Maximino et al ., ), are widely used in this regard, with good pharmacological validation and construct validity for both tests (Maximino et al ., ; Kysil et al ., ); in both cases, threat is merely potential, as no predator or partial predator stimuli are present. In the novel‐tank test, the novelty of the environment elicits bottom‐dwelling (also termed a diving response) that is associated with erratic swimming and freezing, representing defensive behaviour in this assay (Egan et al ., ).…”

A Simple Setup to Perform 3D Locomotion Tracking in Zebrafish by Using a Single Camera

“…Therefore, zebrafish has emerged as a promising new organism for research on anxiety due to their robust cortisol stress response, behavioral strain differences, and sensitivity to drug treatments or predators as well as their change in alarm pheromones [9][10][11][12]. There are various models commonly used to assess zebrafish behavior, include shoaling test [13][14][15], social preference [16,17], light-dark box [18][19][20], open-field [21][22][23], and novel tank [24,25] models. Among these models, they required accurate, reliable, and reproducible detection of the subject's spatiotemporal location.…”