title: Behavioural screening of zebrafish using neuroactive traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions and biological targets.
abstract: The mechanism of the therapeutic action of antidepressants remains uncertain in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In this study, we selected 7 classical TCM prescriptions and utilised an automatic video-tracking system to monitor the rest/wake behaviour of larval zebrafish at 4 days post-fertilisation (dpf) for 48 hours. We found that the curative effects of the prescriptions were dose-dependent. K-means clustering was performed according to the shared behavioural phenotypes of the zebrafish. The results revealed that the rest/wake behavioural profiles induced by the same class of prescriptions were similar. A correlation analysis was conducted between the TCM prescriptions and the known compounds. The results showed that the TCM prescriptions correlated well with some well-known compounds. Therefore, we predicted that they may share a similar mechanism of action. This paper describes the first study to combine TCM research with zebrafish rest/wake behaviour in vivo and presents a powerful approach for the discovery of the mechanism of action of TCM prescriptions.
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China [2].
authors.forename: Ya-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Drug Research, College of Pharmacy, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China [2].
authors.forename: Yuan-Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: 1] The Institute of Robotics and Automatic Information Systems, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China [2].
authors.forename: Ming-Zhu
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Robotics and Automatic Information Systems, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Yang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Drug Research, College of Pharmacy, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Robotics and Automatic Information Systems, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Xi-Zeng
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal