Modeling psychiatric comorbid symptoms of epileptic seizures in zebrafish. (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Canzian, Julia; Müller, Talise E.; Franscescon, Francini; Michelotti, Paula; Fontana, Barbara D.; Costa, Fabiano V.; Rosemberg, Denis B.
• Is Part Of: Journal of psychiatric research. Volume 119(2019)
• Page Start: 14
• Page End: 22
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: Epilepsy-related comorbidities -- Social behavior -- Exploratory activity -- Anxiety -- Memory deficits -- Zebrafish; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Mental Disorders -- Periodicals; Maladies mentales -- Périodiques; Psychiatry; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 616.89005
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.09.007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-3956

Abstract

Abstract: Epilepsy is a debilitating neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Anxiety, cognitive deficits, depressive-like symptoms, and social dysfunction are psychiatric comorbidities with high prevalence in epileptic patients. Due to the genetic and behavioral tractability, the zebrafish is a promising model organism to understand the neural bases involved in epilepsy-related comorbidities. Here, we aimed to characterize some behavioral phenotypes paralleling those observed in epilepsy-related comorbidities after a single pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) exposure in zebrafish. We also analyzed the influence of whole-body cortisol levels in the behavioral responses measured. Fish were exposed to 10 mM PTZ for 20 min to induce epileptic seizures. After 24 h recovery period, locomotion and anxiety-like responses (novel tank and light-dark tests), social interaction (shoaling behavior task), and memory retention (inhibitory avoidance protocol) were assessed. Basically, PTZ impaired habituation to novelty stress, evoked anxiogenic-like behaviors, disrupted shoaling, and caused memory consolidation deficits in zebrafish without changing whole-body cortisol levels. In conclusion, our novel findings further validate the use of zebrafish as a suitable tool for modeling epilepsy-related comorbidities in translational neuropsychiatric research. Graphical abstract: Image 1084964 Highlights: We reportedpsychiatric comorbid-like symptoms of epileptic seizures in zebrafish. Behavioral responses were analyzed24 h after a single pentylenetetrazole challenge. Pentylenetetrazole altersthe exploratory pattern and evokes anxiogenesis. Pentylenetetrazole disrupts shoaling and impairsmemory consolidation. The zebrafish is an emergent tool to explore epilepsy-related comorbidities.