title: Acute stress disrupts performance of zebrafish in the cued and spatial memory tests: the utility of fish models to study stress-memory interplay.
abstract: The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a promising model organism for affective or cognitive neuroscience research, and may be useful to study the interplay between memory and anxiety-related states. To assess the effects of acute psychological stress on spatial and cued memory, adult zebrafish were trained in an aquatic plus-maze for 14 days using food bait as a reward. Two ecologically relevant stressors (alarm pheromone or Indian leaf fish exposure) were applied to acutely stress zebrafish immediately prior to the final (testing) trial. Overall, acute single inescapable stress markedly impaired spatial and cued memory in zebrafish plus-maze test, reducing the number of correct arm entries and time spent in the target arm. This observation parallels rodent and clinical literature on memory-impairing effects of acute stress, strongly supporting the utility of zebrafish in neurobehavioral research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience Program, Tulane Neurophenotyping Platform, Zebrafish Neuroscience Research Consortium, Tulane University Medical School, 1430 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
authors.forename: Siddharth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gaikwad
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Piet
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cachat
authors.forename: Allan V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kalueff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory; D010675:Pheromones / Q000494:pharmacology; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013550:Swimming; D013997:Time Factors; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones