PUBLICATION

Drinks like a fish: zebra fish (Danio rerio) as a behavior genetic model to study alcohol effects

Authors
Gerlai, R., Lahav, M., Guo, S., and Rosenthal, A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-010220-14
Date
2000
Source
Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior   67(4): 773-782 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Gerlai, Robert T., Guo, Su
Keywords
acute drug effect; aggression; alcohol; anxiety; behavior; Brachydanio rerio; drugs of abuse; fear; habituation; mutagenesis; social behavior; zebra fish
MeSH Terms
  • Aggression/drug effects*
  • Aggression/physiology
  • Animals
  • Central Nervous System Depressants/administration & dosage*
  • Ethanol/administration & dosage*
  • Exploratory Behavior/drug effects*
  • Exploratory Behavior/physiology
  • Female
  • Male
  • Models, Animal*
  • Models, Genetic*
  • Motor Activity/drug effects*
  • Motor Activity/genetics
  • Mutagenesis/drug effects
  • Mutagenesis/genetics
  • Skin Pigmentation/drug effects
  • Skin Pigmentation/genetics
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
PubMed
11166068 Full text @ Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav.
Abstract
Zebra fish may be an ideal vertebrate model system for numerous human diseases with which the genetics and biological mechanisms of the disease may be studied. Zebra fish has been successfully used in developmental genetics, and recently, neurobiologists have also started to study this species. A potentially interesting target disease amenable for analysis with zebra fish is drug addiction, e.g. alcoholism. Although genetic tools to manipulate the genome of zebra fish are available, appropriate phenotypical testing methods are often lacking. In this paper, we describe basic behavioral tests to investigate the acute effects of alcohol on zebra fish. These behavioral paradigms will be useful for the genetic and biological analysis of acute and chronic drug effects as well as addiction. In addition to presenting findings for the acute effects of alcohol, we briefly describe our strategy for generating and screening mutants. We hope that our pilot work will facilitate the future development of behavioral tests and the use of zebra fish in the genetic analysis of the biological effects of drugs of abuse.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping