PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zoltán K Varga
AU  - Áron Zsigmond
AU  - Diána Pejtsik
AU  - Máté Varga
AU  - Kornél Demeter
AU  - Éva Mikics
AU  - József Haller
AU  - Manó Aliczki
TI  - The swimming plus-maze test: a novel high-throughput model for assessment of anxiety-related behaviour in larval zebrafish. (<em>Danio rerio</em>)
AID  - 10.1101/342402
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 342402
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/06/08/342402.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/06/08/342402.full
AB  - Larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) has the potential to supplement rodent models due to the availability of resource efficient methods implying high-throughput screening and high-resolution imaging techniques. Although behavioural models are available in larvae, only a few, insensitive approaches can be employed to assess anxiety. Here we present the swimming plus-maze (SPM) test paradigm to assess anxiety-related states in young zebrafish. The “+” shaped apparatus consists of arms of different depth representing differentially aversive context. The paradigm was validated i.) in larval and juvenile zebrafish, ii.) after administration of compounds affecting human anxiety and iii.) in differentially aversive experimental conditions. Furthermore, we compared the SPM with conventional “anxiety tests” of larvae such as the open tank and light/dark tank tests to identify their shared characteristics. We clarified that the preference towards deeper water is conserved trough the ontogenesis and can be abolished by anxiolytic or enhanced by anxiogenic agents, respectively. The behavioural read-out is insensitive to the aversiveness of the platform and unrelated to behaviours assessed by conventional tests utilizing larval fish. Taken together, we developed a sensitive high-throughput test measuring anxiety-related responses of larval zebrafish, which likely reflect bottom-dwelling behaviour of adults, potentially supporting larva-based integrative approaches.