Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Psychopharmacology, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Ipiranga 6681, 90619-900, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2012 Jan 10;36(1):176-82. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2011.08.016. Epub 2011 Aug 26.
In teleosts, changes in swimming, exploring, general locomotor activity, and anxious state can be a response to stress mediated by the corticotropin-releasing hormone system activation and its effects on glucocorticoid levels. Zebrafish has been widely used to study neuropharmacology and has become a promising animal model to investigate neurobehavioral mechanisms of stress. In this report the animals were submitted to acute restraint stress for different time lengths (15, 60 and 90 min) for further evaluation of behavioral patterns, whole-body cortisol content, and corticotropin-releasing hormone expression. The results demonstrated an increase in the locomotor activity and an alteration in the swimming pattern during a 5-min trial after the acute restraint stress. Interestingly, all groups of fish tested in the novel tank test exhibited signs of anxiety as evaluated by the time spent in the bottom of the tank. Whole-body cortisol content showed a positive correlation with increased behavioral indices of locomotion in zebrafish whereas molecular analysis of corticotropin-releasing hormone showed a late reduction of mRNA expression (90 min). Altogether, we present a model of acute restraint stress in zebrafish, confirmed by elevated cortisol content, as a valid and reliable model to study the biochemical basis of stress behavior, which seems to be accompanied by a negative feedback of corticotropin-release hormone mRNA expression.
在硬骨鱼类中，游泳、探索、一般运动活动和焦虑状态的变化可能是由促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素系统激活及其对皮质醇水平的影响介导的应激反应。斑马鱼已被广泛用于研究神经药理学，并已成为研究应激神经行为机制的有前途的动物模型。在本报告中，动物被提交给不同时间长度的急性束缚应激（15、60 和 90 分钟），以进一步评估行为模式、全身皮质醇含量和促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素表达。结果表明，在急性束缚应激后 5 分钟的试验中，运动活性增加，游泳模式发生改变。有趣的是，在新鱼缸测试中测试的所有鱼类组都表现出焦虑的迹象，这可以通过在鱼缸底部停留的时间来评估。全身皮质醇含量与斑马鱼的运动行为指数增加呈正相关，而促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素的分子分析显示 mRNA 表达的延迟降低（90 分钟）。总的来说，我们提出了一种在斑马鱼中进行急性束缚应激的模型，该模型通过升高的皮质醇含量得到证实，这是一种研究应激行为的生化基础的有效且可靠的模型，这种模型似乎伴随着促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素 mRNA 表达的负反馈。
