Individual differences in response to alcohol exposure in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Abstract

Personality traits are related to many aspects of one’s life, including risk taking, sociability, and behavioral changes caused by psychoactive substances. This study aimed to investigate individual differences and behavioral changes due to alcohol exposure in zebrafish (Danio rerio). To that end, adult animals were separated into two behavioral profiles: bold and shy, according to their risk taking behavior in an emergence test. Bold and shy fish were allowed to explore a 5-chamber tank and were tested for exploration and sociability (shoaling behavior) following alcohol exposure. The acute drug exposure treatments were 0.0%, 0.1% and 0.5% (v/v%) alcohol. The behavioral parameters evaluated were average and maximum swimming speed, total distance traveled, total time spent immobile, and time spent near a shoal or exploring the tank. For the groups that received no alcohol (0.0% alcohol), shy individuals spent more time near the shoal than bold fish. However, 0.5% alcohol increased bold fish responsiveness to the shoal, while both 0.1% and 0.5% alcohol diminished shoaling in shy fish. Our results show that the behavioral profiles of zebrafish are affected differently by alcohol, with shy animals seemingly more sensitive to behavioral change due to drug exposure. Moreover, we confirm zebrafish as a model for alcohol induced functional (exploration and social behavior) changes that could be useful in high throughput drug screens.

Anxiolytic-like effect of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (Neem, Meliaceae) bark on adult zebrafish (Danio rerio): participation of the Serotoninergic and GABAergic systems

“…35 Moreover, alcohol can affect neurotransmitters, such as by inhibiting the glutamatergic system and stimulating the GABAergic, 36 initially resulting in a calming effect. 37 Sena et al, 38 used distilled cachaça as a source of ethanol for the induction of anxiety in rodents. Benneh et al, 2 used ethanol withdrawal (0.5%; v/v) to induce chronic anxiety in zebrafish by ethanol withdrawal, and then used the Maerua angolensis trunk bark extract to treat anxiety.…”

Differential effects of ethanol on behavior and GABAAreceptor subunit expression in zebrafish (Danio rerio) with alternative stress coping styles

“…Surprisingly, the proactive individuals showed a greater anxiolytic response than the reactive individuals. To our knowledge, only one other study accounted for stress coping style when examining the anxiolytic effects of ethanol in zebrafish 59 . In that study, acute ethanol treatment resulted in a greater anxiolytic effect (fish spent more time in an area of the tank furthest from conspecifics) on reactive fish, while proactive fish increased their stress-related behaviors 59 .…”

“…To our knowledge, only one other study accounted for stress coping style when examining the anxiolytic effects of ethanol in zebrafish 59 . In that study, acute ethanol treatment resulted in a greater anxiolytic effect (fish spent more time in an area of the tank furthest from conspecifics) on reactive fish, while proactive fish increased their stress-related behaviors 59 . We speculate the opposing observations between our studies could be due to differences in treatment length (60 minutes vs. 2 weeks), social stress buffering (social vs. isolation), and assignment of stress coping style (behavioral screen vs. selectively bred lines).…”

Inhibitory control in zebrafish, Danio rerio

“…However, the barrier test is likely affected by social motivation (Etheredge et al, 2018;Lucon-Xiccato and Dadda, 2017), which varies among individual fish (Cattelan et al, 2017;Pham et al, 2012;Suriyampola et al, 2016) and is altered by psychoactive substances (Araujo-Silva et al, 2018;Fontana et al, 2018). An alternative procedure is the cylinder test (Keagy et al, 2019;Santacà et al, 2019).…”

“…In the barrier test, the fish has to detour around a transparent barrier to reach a group of conspecifics (Gatto et al ., 2018; Lucon‐Xiccato and Bisazza, 2017b; Lucon‐Xiccato et al ., 2017), which implies inhibiting the strong tendency to swim directly towards the target. However, the barrier test is likely affected by social motivation (Etheredge et al ., 2018; Lucon‐Xiccato and Dadda, 2017), which varies among individual fish (Cattelan et al ., 2017; Pham et al ., 2012; Suriyampola et al ., 2016) and is altered by psychoactive substances (Araujo‐Silva et al ., 2018; Fontana et al ., 2018). An alternative procedure is the cylinder test (Keagy et al ., 2019; Lucon‐Xiccato et al ., 2017, 2020; Santacà et al ., 2019).…”