title: Pharmacological analysis of zebrafish (Danio rerio) scototaxis.
abstract: The scototaxis test has been introduced recently to assess anxiety-like phenotypes in fish, including zebrafish. Parametric analyses suggest that scototaxis represents an approach-avoidance conflict, which hints at anxiety. In this model, white avoidance represents anxiety-like behavior, while the number of shuttling events represents activity. Acute or chronic fluoxetine, buspirone, benzodiazepines, ethanol, caffeine and dizocilpine were assessed using the light-dark box (scototaxis) test in zebrafish. Acute fluoxetine treatment did not alter white avoidance, but altered locomotion in the higher dose; chronic treatment (2 weeks), on the other hand, produced an anxiolytic effect with no locomotor outcomes. The benzodiazepines produced a hormetic (inverted U-shaped) dose-response profile, with intermediate doses producing anxiolysis and no effect at higher doses; clonazepam, a high-potency benzodiazepine agonist, produced a locomotor impairment at the highest dose. Buspirone produced an anxiolytic profile, without locomotor impairments. Moclobemide did not produce behavioral effects. Ethanol also produced a hormetic profile in white avoidance, with locomotor activation in 0.5% concentration. Caffeine produced an anxiogenic profile, without locomotor effects. These results suggest that the light-dark box is sensitive to anxiolytic and anxiogenic drugs in zebrafish.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Neuroendocrinologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, r. Augusto Corrêa 01 66075-110, Brazil. caio@ufpa.br
authors.forename: Caio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maximino
authors.forename: Annanda Waneza Batista
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Amauri
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gouveia
authors.forename: Anderson Manoel
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Herculano
mesh_terms: D000221:Adaptation, Ocular / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology; D003623:Dark Adaptation / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D002110:Caffeine; D000431:Ethanol