Social behavioral phenotyping of the zebrafish casper mutant following embryonic alcohol exposure

Y Fernandes, M Rampersad, JK Eberhart - Behavioural brain research, 2019 - Elsevier
Y Fernandes, M Rampersad, JK Eberhart
Behavioural brain research, 2019Elsevier
Abstract The term Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes all the deleterious
consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure. Impaired social behavior is a common
symptom of FASD. The zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model organism with which to
examine the effects of embryonic alcohol exposure on social behavior due to an innate
strong behavior, called shoaling. The relative transparency of the embryo also makes
zebrafish powerful for cellular analyses, such as characterizing neural circuitry. However, as …
Abstract
The term Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes all the deleterious consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure. Impaired social behavior is a common symptom of FASD. The zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model organism with which to examine the effects of embryonic alcohol exposure on social behavior due to an innate strong behavior, called shoaling. The relative transparency of the embryo also makes zebrafish powerful for cellular analyses, such as characterizing neural circuitry. However, as zebrafish develop, pigmentation begins to obscure the brain and other tissues. Due to mutations disrupting pigmentation, the casper zebrafish strain remains relatively transparent throughout adulthood, potentially permitting researchers to image neural circuits in vivo, via epifluorescence, confocal and light sheet microscopy. Currently, however the behavioral profile of casper zebrafish post embryonic alcohol exposure has not been completed. We report that exposure to 1% alcohol from either 6 to 24, or 24 to 26 h postfertilization reduces the social behavior of adult casper zebrafish. Our findings set the stage for the use of this important zebrafish resource in studies of FASD.
Elsevier