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Tsang B, Venditti V, Javier CM, Gerlai R. The ram cichlid (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) learns an associative task: a new fish species for memory research. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13781. [PMID: 37612369 PMCID: PMC10447575 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40739-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Fish are the most species rich and evolutionarily oldest vertebrate taxon. This represents opportunities for biologists who intend to employ laboratory animals in their comparative or translational research. Yet, the overwhelming majority of such studies use a single fish species, the zebrafish, a suboptimal strategy from the comparative standpoint. Neuronal plasticity (learning and memory) is perhaps one of the most complex biological phenomena from a mechanistic standpoint, and thus its analysis could benefit from the use of evolutionarily ancient and simple vertebrate model organisms, i.e., fish species. However, learning & memory research with the zebrafish has been replete with problems. Here, we employ a novel fish species, the ram cichlid, we argue will be particularly appropriate for this purpose for practical as well as ethological/ecological reasons. First, we investigate whether the ram cichlid exhibits innate preference for certain colours (red, blue, yellow or green) in a four-choice task, the plus maze. Subsequently, we pair the apparently least preferred colour (green, the conditioned stimulus or CS) with food reward (the unconditioned stimulus, US) in the plus maze, a CS-US associative learning task. After eight pairing trials, we run a probe trial during which only the CS is presented. At this trial, we find significant preference to the CS, i.e., acquisition of memory of CS-US association. We argue that our proof-of-concept study demonstrating fast acquisition of CS-US association in the ram cichlid, coupled with the universal utility of some genome editing methods, will facilitate the mechanistic analysis of learning and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Tsang
- Cell and System Biology Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
| | - Veronica Venditti
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Celina Micaela Javier
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| | - Robert Gerlai
- Cell and System Biology Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Rm CCT4004, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.
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Matsuda K, Yoshida D, Watanabe K, Yokobori E, Konno N, Nakamachi T. Effect of intracerebroventricular administration of two molecular forms of sulfated CCK octapeptide on anxiety-like behavior in the zebrafish danio rerio. Peptides 2020; 130:170330. [PMID: 32445877 DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2020.170330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Revised: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Cholecystokinin octapeptide with sulfate (CCK-8s) regulates feeding behavior and psychomotor activity. In rodents and goldfish, intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of CCK-8s decreases food intake and also induces anxiety-like behavior. The zebrafish has several merits for investigating the psychophysiological roles of neuropeptides. However, little is known about the brain localization of CCK and the behavioral action of CCK-8s in this species. Here we investigated the brain localization of CCK-like immunoreactivity and found that it was distributed throughout the brain. As CCK-like immunoreactivity was particularly evident in the ventral habenular nucleus, the interpeduncular nucleus and superior raphe, we subsequently examined the effect of zebrafish (zf) CCK-8s on psychomotor control. Since the zebrafish possesses two molecular forms of zfCCK-8s (zfCCKA-8s and zfCCKB-8s), two synthetic peptides were administered intracerebroventricularly at 1, 5 and 10 pmol g-1 body weight (BW). As the zebrafish shows a greater preference for the lower area of a tank than for to the upper area, we used this preference for assessment of anxiety-like behavior. ICV administration of zfCCKA-8 s or zfCCKB-8s at 10 pmol g-1 BW significantly shortened the time spent in the upper area. The actions of these peptides mimicked that of the central-type benzodiazepine receptor inverse agonist FG-7142 (an anxiogenic agent) at 10 pmol g-1 BW. The anxiogenic-like action of the two peptides was attenuated by treatment with the CCK receptor antagonist proglumide at 200 pmol g-1 BW. These results indicate that zfCCKA-8s and zfCCKB-8s potently induce anxiety-like behavior via the CCK receptor-signaling pathway in the zebrafish brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouhei Matsuda
- Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan; Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Faculty of Science, Academic Assembly, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan; Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Innovative Life Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan.
| | - Daisuke Yoshida
- Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
| | - Keisuke Watanabe
- Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
| | - Eri Yokobori
- Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
| | - Norifumi Konno
- Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan; Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Faculty of Science, Academic Assembly, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
| | - Tomoya Nakamachi
- Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan; Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Faculty of Science, Academic Assembly, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
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Kim YH, Lee KS, Park AR, Min TJ. Adding preferred color to a conventional reward method improves the memory of zebrafish in the T-maze behavior model. Anim Cells Syst (Seoul) 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/19768354.2017.1383938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Yeon-Hwa Kim
- Institute of Medical Science, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea
| | - Kuen Su Lee
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea
| | - Ae Ran Park
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea
| | - Too Jae Min
- Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea
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Fernandes Y, Buckley DM, Eberhart JK. Diving into the world of alcohol teratogenesis: a review of zebrafish models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Biochem Cell Biol 2017; 96:88-97. [PMID: 28817785 DOI: 10.1139/bcb-2017-0122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) refers to the entire suite of deleterious outcomes resulting from embryonic exposure to alcohol. Along with other reviews in this special issue, we provide insight into how animal models, specifically the zebrafish, have informed our understanding of FASD. We first provide a brief introduction to FASD. We discuss the zebrafish as a model organism and its strengths for alcohol research. We detail how zebrafish has been used to model some of the major defects present in FASD. These include behavioral defects, such as social behavior as well as learning and memory, and structural defects, disrupting organs such as the brain, sensory organs, heart, and craniofacial skeleton. We provide insights into how zebrafish research has aided in our understanding of the mechanisms of ethanol teratogenesis. We end by providing some relatively recent advances that zebrafish has provided in characterizing gene-ethanol interactions that may underlie FASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yohaan Fernandes
- Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713, USA.,Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713, USA
| | - Desire M Buckley
- Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713, USA.,Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713, USA
| | - Johann K Eberhart
- Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713, USA.,Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713, USA
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Fernandes YM, Rampersad M, Luchiari AC, Gerlai R. Associative learning in the multichamber tank: A new learning paradigm for zebrafish. Behav Brain Res 2016; 312:279-84. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.06.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2016] [Revised: 04/24/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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Arey RN, Murphy CT. Conserved regulators of cognitive aging: From worms to humans. Behav Brain Res 2016; 322:299-310. [PMID: 27329151 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.06.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2016] [Revised: 05/27/2016] [Accepted: 06/17/2016] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive decline is a major deficit that arises with age in humans. While some research on the underlying causes of these problems can be done in humans, harnessing the strengths of small model systems, particularly those with well-studied longevity mutants, such as the nematode C. elegans, will accelerate progress. Here we review the approaches being used to study cognitive decline in model organisms and show how simple model systems allow the rapid discovery of conserved molecular mechanisms, which will eventually enable the development of therapeutics to slow cognitive aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel N Arey
- Department of Molecular Biology & LSI Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
| | - Coleen T Murphy
- Department of Molecular Biology & LSI Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States.
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