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Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol

In recent years, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model to study the mechanisms of physiological and behavioral effects of stress, due to the similarity in neural structures and biochemical pathways between zebrafish and mammals. Previous research in this vertebrate animal model has...

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Autores principales: Aponte, Amy, Petrunich-Rutherford, Maureen L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6689218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31410315
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7469
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author Aponte, Amy
Petrunich-Rutherford, Maureen L.
author_facet Aponte, Amy
Petrunich-Rutherford, Maureen L.
author_sort Aponte, Amy
collection PubMed
description In recent years, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model to study the mechanisms of physiological and behavioral effects of stress, due to the similarity in neural structures and biochemical pathways between zebrafish and mammals. Previous research in this vertebrate animal model has demonstrated an increase in whole-body cortisol resulting from an acute (30-second) net handling stress, but it remains unclear whether such a stressor will concomitantly increase anxiety-like behavior. In addition, as the previous study examined the effects of this acute stressor in adult zebrafish after a brief period of isolation, it is unclear whether this stressor would be effective in eliciting cortisol increases in younger aged subjects without isolation. In the current study, young adult zebrafish (approximately 90 days post-fertilization) were briefly exposed to a net handling stressor and were subsequently subjected to either the novel tank test or the light/dark preference test. The novel tank test was used to measure exploration and habituation in response to a novel environment, and the light/dark preference test was used to measure locomotor activity and scototaxis behavior. All subjects were sacrificed 15 minutes post-stressor and were analyzed for whole-body levels of cortisol. Contrary to expectations, there was no effect of acute net handling on cortisol levels. Similarly, acute net handling did not significantly induce anxiety-like behavior during the novel tank test or the light/dark preference test. Our findings demonstrate that there are possible developmental differences in response to an acute net handling stress, as we did not observe alterations in hormonal or behavioral measures of anxiety in young adult zebrafish. Alternatively, if zebrafish are not isolated before the stressor, they may be more resilient to a brief acute stressor. These results suggest the need for a different or more intense acute stressor in order further explore neuroendocrine mechanisms and anxiety-like behavior at this developmental stage in the zebrafish animal model.
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spelling pubmed-66892182019-08-13 Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol Aponte, Amy Petrunich-Rutherford, Maureen L. PeerJ Animal Behavior In recent years, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model to study the mechanisms of physiological and behavioral effects of stress, due to the similarity in neural structures and biochemical pathways between zebrafish and mammals. Previous research in this vertebrate animal model has demonstrated an increase in whole-body cortisol resulting from an acute (30-second) net handling stress, but it remains unclear whether such a stressor will concomitantly increase anxiety-like behavior. In addition, as the previous study examined the effects of this acute stressor in adult zebrafish after a brief period of isolation, it is unclear whether this stressor would be effective in eliciting cortisol increases in younger aged subjects without isolation. In the current study, young adult zebrafish (approximately 90 days post-fertilization) were briefly exposed to a net handling stressor and were subsequently subjected to either the novel tank test or the light/dark preference test. The novel tank test was used to measure exploration and habituation in response to a novel environment, and the light/dark preference test was used to measure locomotor activity and scototaxis behavior. All subjects were sacrificed 15 minutes post-stressor and were analyzed for whole-body levels of cortisol. Contrary to expectations, there was no effect of acute net handling on cortisol levels. Similarly, acute net handling did not significantly induce anxiety-like behavior during the novel tank test or the light/dark preference test. Our findings demonstrate that there are possible developmental differences in response to an acute net handling stress, as we did not observe alterations in hormonal or behavioral measures of anxiety in young adult zebrafish. Alternatively, if zebrafish are not isolated before the stressor, they may be more resilient to a brief acute stressor. These results suggest the need for a different or more intense acute stressor in order further explore neuroendocrine mechanisms and anxiety-like behavior at this developmental stage in the zebrafish animal model. PeerJ Inc. 2019-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6689218/ /pubmed/31410315 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7469 Text en ©2019 Aponte and Petrunich-Rutherford https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Animal Behavior
Aponte, Amy
Petrunich-Rutherford, Maureen L.
Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
title Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
title_full Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
title_fullStr Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
title_full_unstemmed Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
title_short Acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
title_sort acute net stress of young adult zebrafish (danio rerio) is not sufficient to increase anxiety-like behavior and whole-body cortisol
topic Animal Behavior
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6689218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31410315
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7469
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