Neuroscience Department, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, 18104, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 28;14(1):29645. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-80629-2.
Caffeine is a widely consumed stimulant with dose-dependent effects on behavior. Across species, lower doses tend be anxiolytic and increase activity, while higher doses tend to be anxiogenic and decrease activity. Given the importance of the social environment on stress responses, we investigated how social stimuli modulate behavioral responses to caffeine. We exposed adult zebrafish to low (25 mg/L) or moderate (60 mg/L) caffeine either in isolation or within view of a stimulus group. Zebrafish are highly social, and social stimuli are known to buffer responses to environmental stressors. As predicted, we found that isolated fish were more sensitive to caffeine's anxiogenic effects and less sensitive to caffeine's stimulant effects. Among socially-exposed individuals, caffeine decreased social approach. Our data illustrate the importance of social context. Understanding how social cues shape pharmacological responses is important for understanding the external validity of studies that investigate drug effects in social species.
咖啡因是一种广泛消费的兴奋剂，其对行为的影响呈剂量依赖性。在不同物种中，较低的剂量往往具有抗焦虑作用并增加活动，而较高的剂量往往具有焦虑作用并减少活动。鉴于社会环境对应激反应的重要性，我们研究了社会刺激如何调节对咖啡因的行为反应。我们将成年斑马鱼暴露于低（25mg/L）或中（60mg/L）剂量的咖啡因中，无论是单独暴露还是在刺激组的视野内暴露。斑马鱼是高度社会性的，并且已知社会刺激可以缓冲对环境应激源的反应。正如预测的那样，我们发现孤立的鱼对咖啡因的焦虑作用更敏感，而对咖啡因的刺激作用不敏感。在社交暴露的个体中，咖啡因减少了社交接近。我们的数据说明了社会背景的重要性。了解社会线索如何塑造药理反应对于理解研究社交物种中药物作用的外部有效性非常重要。
