The Body Size of Stimulus Conspecifics Affects Social Preference in a Binary Choice Task in Wild-Type, But Not in dyrk1aa Mutant, Zebrafish

Abstract

The zebrafish has become an appropriate animal model in the analysis of numerous human brain disorders. A variety of neuropsychiatric conditions and neurodevelopmental disorders are comorbid with abnormal social behavior. Given the translational relevance of zebrafish, multidisciplinary studies employing behavioral, neurobiological, and molecular methods with this species may provide insights into human central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Many of these studies impinge upon our ability to properly induce and quantify the behavior of zebrafish, a relatively understudied aspect of this species. In this study, we investigate how the body size of conspecifics relative to that of the test subject influences social (shoaling) responses in zebrafish. We found a robust preference by wild-type (WT) test zebrafish toward big conspecifics, but not toward smaller conspecifics. Additionally, we tested an autism-relevant zebrafish knockout (KO) model. The dyrk1aa KO zebrafish showed impaired social preference compared with WT in the social behavior test. Our results confirm the effect of relative body size on social preference and that the social preference task developed for zebrafish may uncover the function of genes and biological mechanisms potentially associated with human CNS disorders.

Social Preference Tests in Zebrafish: A Systematic Review

“…Social preference is usually assessed by measuring the time spent by the observed fish in the areas proximal to the social stimulus; this time is then expressed as a percentage of the total time. The preference area can also be divided into zones of "strong" and "weak" social preference, according to the distance from the social stimulus chamber, as recently reported by Aslanzadeh et al (49) and Landin et al (50).…”

“…Zebrafish reln mutants, characterized by alterations in the signaling pathway of reelin, a glycoprotein important for brain patterning during development, did not show reduced social preference (68). In zebrafish, knocking out of dyrk1aa, gene that has been shown to exhibit features potentially relevant to human autism spectrum disorders, caused impairment of social preference (49). Instead, oxtr mutant fish, lacking a functional "oxytocin" receptor, displayed normal social preference for conspecifics (69).…”

“…The visual characteristics of both living zebrafish and computeranimated zebrafish images could also affect social preference (19). When social stimuli consisted of conspecifics of different sizes, tested zebrafish preferred to interact with fish of larger size, presumably to reduce predation risks (49). In addition, WT AB strain zebrafish of the same age and size and seem to prefer unfamiliar over familiar conspecifics when the separation barrier allows the passage of some water and they are allowed to perceive chemosensory cues (26).…”

“…Several studies have found that zebrafish prefer socializing with conspecifics of similar phenotypes, age and size, and that these preferences are shown toward both live and computeranimated fish (19,77,78). On the contrary, Aslanzadeh et al (49) suggested that zebrafish prefer to interact with fish of a larger size probably in order to reduce predation risks. With regard to zebrafish phenotypes, the studies considered in the present review focused mainly on two WT strains: AB and SF.…”

Phenotype-Based HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS Coupled With Zebrafish Behavior Trajectory Analysis System for the Identification of the Antidepressant Components in Methanol Extract of Anshen Buxin Six Pills

“…Therefore, it is necessary to establish a high-throughput, phenotype-based screening method to identify new neuroactive compounds present in TCMs. Zebrafish larvae are important tool for screening large-scale components and discovering new neuroactive drug, as a phenotype-based drug screening model, because their advantages of requiring a low dosage of drug, exhibiting fast reproduction ( Stewart et al, 2015 ) and homology with human genes in the monoaminergic nervous system ( Aslanzadeh et al, 2019 ). The zebrafish swimming behavior-based screening method has been widely used in the exploration of mental diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease ( Li et al, 2020 ).…”