PUBLICATION

Acute stress disrupts performance of zebrafish in the cued and spatial memory tests: The utility of fish models to study stress-memory interplay

Authors
Gaikwad, S., Stewart, A., Hart, P., Wong, K., Piet, V., Cachat, J., and Kalueff, A.V.
ID
ZDB-PUB-110520-11
Date
2011
Source
Behavioural processes   87(2): 224-230 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Cachat, Jonathan, Kalueff, Allan V.
Keywords
adult zebraifhs, spatial memory, cued memory, stress exposure, alarm pheromone, indian leaf fish, plus-maze test
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Anxiety
  • Cues*
  • Female
  • Male
  • Maze Learning*/drug effects
  • Memory*
  • Pheromones/pharmacology
  • Stress, Psychological*
  • Swimming
  • Time Factors
  • Zebrafish*
PubMed
21545830 Full text @ Behav. Processes
Abstract
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a promising model organism for affective or cognitive neuroscience research, and may be useful to study the interplay between memory and anxiety-related states. To assess the effects of acute psychological stress on spatial and cued memory, adult zebrafish were trained in an aquatic plus-maze for 14 days using food bait as a reward. Two ecologically relevant stressors (alarm pheromone or Indian leaf fish exposure) were applied to acutely stress zebrafish immediately prior to the final (testing) trial. Overall, acute single inescapable stress markedly impaired spatial and cued memory in zebrafish plus-maze test, reducing the number of correct arm entries and time spent in the target arm. This observation parallels rodent and clinical literature on memory-impairing effects of acute stress, strongly supporting the utility of zebrafish in neurobehavioral research.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping