title: Oxidation and Cognitive Impairment in the Aging Zebrafish.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The zebrafish has become an established model organism in aging research giving insight into general aging processes in vertebrates. Oxidative stress in aging may damage proteins and lipids in brain cells. Enhanced levels of oxidized macromolecules exert neurotoxic effects that could lead to disturbances in neuronal functioning and cognitive skills.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to investigate a possible relation between oxidative stress and learning deficits during aging in zebrafish.
  
  
  METHODS
  We tested zebrafish of different ages in a color discrimination paradigm for associative learning and in a hole board task for spatial learning abilities. Afterwards, we determined the levels of oxidized lipids and proteins as well as the amount of lipofuscin in the learning-relevant brain regions of animals of the same age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While young zebrafish at the age of 1 year successfully completed both learning tasks, cognitive abilities were significantly impaired in older animals. Learning deficits occurred at the age of 2 years, where we also detected significantly increased levels of lipofuscin and oxidized proteins in the zebrafish medial and lateral pallial areas of the dorsal telencephalon.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that enhanced oxidative stress may contribute to behavioral and cognitive impairments in the aging zebrafish.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroethology and Sensory Ecology, Institute of Zoology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruhl
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jonas
authors.forename: Nathan Ian
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Seidel
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Prinz
authors.forename: Onder
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Albayram
authors.forename: Andras
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bilkei-Gorzo
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: von der Emde
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008062:Lipofuscin / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D050050:Protein Carbonylation; D065853:Spatial Learning / Q000502:physiology; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000378:metabolism*; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / Q000378:metabolism*; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D008062:Lipofuscin; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances