Female zebrafish (Danio rerio) demonstrate stronger preference for established shoals over newly-formed shoals in the three-tank open-swim preference test

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) share a considerable amount of biological similarity with mammals, including identical or homologous gene expression pathways, neurotransmitters, hormones, and cellular receptors. Zebrafish also display complex social behaviors like shoaling and schooling, making them an attr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-09, Vol.17 (9), p.e0265703
Main Authors: Velkey, Andrew J, Koon, Caroline H, Danstrom, Isabel A, Wiens, Katie M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animal behavior
Animals
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Behavior
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Biology and Life Sciences
Danio rerio
Disorders
Drug therapy
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Entropy (Information theory)
Female
Females
Gene expression
Homology
Hormones
Humans
Male
Males
Mammals
Neurotransmitters
Physical Sciences
Predation
Preferences
Research and Analysis Methods
Sex differences
Sexes
Shoals
Social Behavior
Social behavior in animals
Social factors
Social isolation
Social Sciences
Swimming
Zebra fish
Zebrafish
Zebrafish - physiology
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Summary:Zebrafish (Danio rerio) share a considerable amount of biological similarity with mammals, including identical or homologous gene expression pathways, neurotransmitters, hormones, and cellular receptors. Zebrafish also display complex social behaviors like shoaling and schooling, making them an attractive model for investigating normal social behavior as well as exploring impaired social function conditions such as autism spectrum disorders. Newly-formed and established shoals exhibit distinct behavior patterns and inter-member interactions that can convey the group's social stability. We used a three-chamber open-swim preference test to determine whether individual zebrafish show a preference for an established shoal over a newly-formed shoal. Results indicated that both sexes maintained greater proximity to arena zones nearest to the established shoal stimulus. In addition, we report the novel application of Shannon entropy to discover sex differences in systematicity of responses not revealed by unit-based measurements; male subjects spent more time investigating between the two shoals than female subjects. This novel technique using established versus newly-formed shoals can be used in future studies testing transgenics and pharmacological treatments that mimic autism spectrum disorder and other disorders that affect social interaction.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0265703