Behavioural brain research
January 1, 2013
Jonathan Cachat, Evan J Kyzar, Christopher Collins et al.
112 citations
Ibogaine, a psychoactive compound from the iboga plant, alters multiple behaviors in adult zebrafish. At doses of 10 and 20 mg/L, it reversed the natural diving response, causing initial top swimming followed by bottom dwelling, and reduced the innate preference for dark environments. It did not change overall locomotion or wall-hugging behavior but altered spatial exploration, promoted mirror interaction, disrupted group cohesion, and induced color changes from melanophore aggregation. Brain c-fos expression and whole-body cortisol levels remained unchanged. These results demonstrate ibogaine's complex pharmacological profile and support the use of zebrafish for studying hallucinogenic drug effects.
Behavioural Pharmacology
April 8, 2011
Adam Stewart, Russell Riehl, Keith Wong et al.
66 citations
Acute exposure to high doses of MDMA (40-120 mg/l) reduces bottom swimming and immobility in zebrafish and impairs intrasession habituation at doses as low as 10 mg/l, while lower doses (0.25-10 mg/l) show no behavioral effects. MDMA also increases brain c-fos expression. These findings support the use of zebrafish as a model for screening hallucinogenic compounds.
Open MIND
January 1, 2015
Jonathan Cachat, Chris Collins, Evan J. Kyzar et al.
Three-dimensional reconstructions of zebrafish swimming paths enable both macro- and micro-level analysis of behavior, offering a more complete picture than traditional 2D traces. Temporal 3D reconstructions plot spatial data across time to reflect activity over testing, while spatial 3D reconstructions use two cameras to depict activity within the actual arena. These reconstructions are highly sensitive to anxiolytic, anxiogenic, and hallucinogenic effects in adult zebrafish. For example, ibogaine reversed natural behaviors, a characterization impossible without 3D reconstructions. Track3D, applied for the first time in adult zebrafish, showed strong significant correlation (R>0.07) of automated endpoints with manual data, providing precise calculation of movement parameters and accurate spatiotemporal integration. These approaches permit advanced movement pattern analysis for screening psychoactive compounds.