Pietsch Constanze, Konrad Jonathan, Pawlak Paulina
School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL), Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland.
ProFishCare GmbH, Bösch 43, 6331 Hünenberg, Switzerland.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Aug 19;15(16):2431. doi: 10.3390/ani15162431.
Studies aiming at evaluating specific changes in gene expression in male zebrafish brains as a consequence of the exposure to acute stressors have not been conducted so far. However, the identification of genes that specifically respond to certain stress situations would improve our understanding of stress responses in fish. For this, a stress trial with acutely stressed male zebrafish was conducted, aiming at identifying relevant differences in gene expressions in different brain parts over time. The qPCR results showed changes of gene expression of genes belonging to the immediate early genes and the stress axis, as well as genes regulating the appetite or serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways in the different brain parts across all treatment groups. Several genes, including urotensin 1, corticotropin-releasing hormone-binding protein, and succinate dehydrogenase, were identified as strongly contributing to the outcome of stress regulation, but these genes considerably differ for each brain part. Thus, the study confirmed that the gene expression patterns strongly depend on the species that is investigated, the quality of the stressor, and the time point of investigation. Furthermore, the current results evaluating only the responses of males will allow the evaluation of gender-specific responses to stress in this fish species in the future.
目前尚未开展旨在评估雄性斑马鱼大脑因暴露于急性应激源而导致的基因表达特定变化的研究。然而，识别对特定应激情况有特异性反应的基因将增进我们对鱼类应激反应的理解。为此，对急性应激的雄性斑马鱼进行了应激试验，旨在确定不同脑区基因表达随时间的相关差异。定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）结果显示，所有处理组中，不同脑区属于即刻早期基因、应激轴以及调节食欲、血清素能和多巴胺能途径的基因的表达均发生了变化。包括尾加压素1、促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素结合蛋白和琥珀酸脱氢酶在内的几个基因被确定为对应激调节结果有重大贡献，但这些基因在每个脑区有很大差异。因此，该研究证实基因表达模式强烈依赖于所研究的物种、应激源的性质以及研究的时间点。此外，目前仅评估雄性反应的结果将有助于未来评估该鱼类物种中应激的性别特异性反应。
