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

•Female zebrafish display higher baseline anxiety-like behavior.•Females demonstrated greater individual variability in locomotor activity.•Acute scopolamine exposure causes anxiogenic-like effect in males.•Acute scopolamine exposure caused anxiolytic-like effect in females.•These findings support o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2021-08, Vol.759, p.135993-135993, Article 135993
Main Authors: dos Santos, Bruna E., Giacomini, Ana C.V.V., Marcon, Leticia, Demin, Konstantin A., Strekalova, Tatyana, de Abreu, Murilo S., Kalueff, Allan V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anxiety - chemically induced
Anxiety-like behavior
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Cholinergic Antagonists - toxicity
Female
Locomotion
Locomotion - drug effects
Male
Scopolamine
Scopolamine - toxicity
Sex Characteristics
Sex differences
Temperament
Zebrafish
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Summary:•Female zebrafish display higher baseline anxiety-like behavior.•Females demonstrated greater individual variability in locomotor activity.•Acute scopolamine exposure causes anxiogenic-like effect in males.•Acute scopolamine exposure caused anxiolytic-like effect in females.•These findings support overt sex and individual differences in zebrafish behavior. 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.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2021.135993