A robotics-based behavioral paradigm to measure anxiety-related responses in zebrafish.
Zebrafish are gaining momentum as a laboratory animal species for the study of anxiety-related disorders in translational research, whereby they serve a fundamental complement to laboratory rodents. Several anxiety-related behavioral paradigms, which rest upon the presentation of live predatorial stimuli, may yield inconsistent results due to fatigue, habituation, or idiosyncratic responses exhibited by the stimulus itself. To overcome these limitations, we designed and manufactured a fully controllable robot inspired by a natural aquatic predator (Indian leaf fish, Nandus nandus) of zebrafish. We report that this robot elicits aversive antipredatorial reactions in a preference test and that data obtained therein correlate with data observed in traditional anxiety- and fear-related tests (light/dark preference and shelter-seeking). Finally, ethanol administration (0.25; 0.50; 1.00%) exerts anxiolytic effects, thus supporting the view that robotic stimuli can be used in the analysis of anxiety-related behaviors in zebrafish.
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America.
Valentina
V
Cianca
Tiziana
T
Bartolini
Maurizio
M
Porfiri
Simone
S
Macrì
D000818:Animals; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D012371:Robotics; D015027:Zebrafish
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D000431:Ethanol