The effect of eugenol anesthesia on the electric organ discharge of the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus.

Eugenol, the major active ingredient of clove oil, is widely used for anesthesia in fish. Yet virtually nothing is known about its effects on CNS functions, and thus about potential interference with neurophysiological experimentation. To address this issue, we employed a neuro-behavioral assay recently developed for testing of water-soluble anesthetic agents. The unique feature of this in-vivo tool is that it utilizes a readily accessible behavior, the electric organ discharge (EOD), as a proxy of the neural activity generated by a brainstem oscillator, the pacemaker nucleus, in the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus. A deep state of anesthesia, as assessed by the cessation of locomotor activity, was induced within less than 3 min at concentrations of 30-60 µL/L eugenol. This change in locomotor activity was paralleled by a dose-dependent, pronounced decrease in EOD frequency. After removal of the fish from the anesthetic solution, the frequency returned to baseline levels within 30 min. Eugenol also led to a significant increase in the rate of 'chirps,' specific amplitude/frequency modulations of the EOD, during the 30 min after the fish's exposure to the anesthetic. At 60 µL/L, eugenol induced a collapse of the EOD amplitude after about 3.5 min in half of the fish tested. The results of our study indicate strong effects of eugenol on CNS functions. We hypothesize that these effects are mediated by the established pharmacological activity of eugenol to block the generation of action potentials and to reduce the excitability of neurons; as well as to potentiate GABA-receptor responses.