Physical exercise improves learning in zebrafish, Danio rerio.
Zebrafish is an ideal vertebrate model for neuroscience studies focusing on learning and memory. Although genetic manipulation of zebrafish is available, behavioral protocols are often lacking. In this study we tested whether physical activity can facilitate zebrafish's learning process in an associative conditioning task. Learning was inferred by the approach of the feeding area just after the conditioned stimulus (light). Unexercised zebrafish showed conditioning response from the 5th testing day while fish previously submitted to swim against the water current showed learning by the 3rd day of testing. It seems that physical activity may accelerate associative learning response in zebrafish, indicating the benefits of exercise for cognitive processes. We suggest that this preliminary work could be useful for high throughput screening.
Departamento de Fisiologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, PO Box 1510, 59078-970 Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Electronic address: analuchiari@yahoo.com.br.
Ana Carolina
AC
Luchiari
Diana Marques Martins
DM
Chacon
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000523:psychology*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000502:physiology
Activity; Behavior; Conditioning; Fish