TY - JOUR

T1 - Sex differences shape zebrafish performance in a battery of anxiety tests and in response to acute scopolamine treatment

AU - dos Santos, Bruna E.

AU - Giacomini, Ana C.V.V.

AU - Marcon, Leticia

AU - Demin, Konstantin A.

AU - Strekalova, Tatyana

AU - de Abreu, Murilo S.

AU - Kalueff, Allan V.

N1 - Funding Information: ACVVG is supported by the Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS) research fellowships 19/2551-0001-669-7 . AVK is supported by the Zebrafish Platform Construction Fund from the Southwest University (Chongqing, China). KAD is supported by the President of Russia Graduate Fellowship , state budgetary research project 51130521 from SPSU and the Special Rector’s Fellowship for SPSU students. The laboratory is supported by the budgetary state funding from the Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation (project 121040200141-4). The project was also supported in part by Sirius University (Sochi, Russia). TGA/AVK collaborative study is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) grant 20-65-46006 . The authors thank Sirlei Cazarotto (University of Passo Fundo, Brazil) for her assistance with experimental procedures. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Funding Information: ACVVG is supported by the Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS) research fellowships 19/2551-0001-669-7. AVK is supported by the Zebrafish Platform Construction Fund from the Southwest University (Chongqing, China). KAD is supported by the President of Russia Graduate Fellowship, state budgetary research project 51130521 from SPSU and the Special Rector's Fellowship for SPSU students. The laboratory is supported by the budgetary state funding from the Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation (project 121040200141-4). The project was also supported in part by Sirius University (Sochi, Russia). TGA/AVK collaborative study is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) grant 20-65-46006. The authors thank Sirlei Cazarotto (University of Passo Fundo, Brazil) for her assistance with experimental procedures. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2021/8/10

Y1 - 2021/8/10

N2 - Sex differences influence human and animal behavioral and pharmacological responses. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a powerful, popular model system in neuroscience and drug screening. However, the impact of zebrafish sex differences on their behavior and drug responses remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate baseline anxiety-like behavior in adult male and female zebrafish, and its changes following an acute 30-min exposure to 800-μM scopolamine, a common psychoactive anticholinergic drug. Overall, we report high baseline anxiety-like behavior and more individual variability in locomotion in female zebrafish, as well as distinct, sex-specific (anxiolytic-like in females and anxiogenic-like in males) effects of scopolamine. Collectively, these findings reinforce the growing importance of zebrafish models for studying how both individual and sex differences shape behavioral and pharmacological responses.

AB - Sex differences influence human and animal behavioral and pharmacological responses. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a powerful, popular model system in neuroscience and drug screening. However, the impact of zebrafish sex differences on their behavior and drug responses remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate baseline anxiety-like behavior in adult male and female zebrafish, and its changes following an acute 30-min exposure to 800-μM scopolamine, a common psychoactive anticholinergic drug. Overall, we report high baseline anxiety-like behavior and more individual variability in locomotion in female zebrafish, as well as distinct, sex-specific (anxiolytic-like in females and anxiogenic-like in males) effects of scopolamine. Collectively, these findings reinforce the growing importance of zebrafish models for studying how both individual and sex differences shape behavioral and pharmacological responses.

KW - Anxiety-like behavior

KW - Locomotion

KW - Scopolamine

KW - Sex differences

KW - Temperament

KW - Zebrafish

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108336314&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135993

DO - 10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135993

M3 - Article

C2 - 34058290

AN - SCOPUS:85108336314

VL - 759

JO - Neuroscience Letters

JF - Neuroscience Letters

SN - 0304-3940

M1 - 135993

ER -