This protocol describes the cued fear conditioning task, designed to test the acquisition of the association between a fearful stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, US) and a cue (conditioned stimulus, CS) in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Here we use electrical shock as a US, and red light as a CS, both of whi ...
A brief summary of teleost spatial navigation research is followed by a description of a paradigm for the evaluation of egocentric-based, or viewpoint-dependent, spatial learning and memory function in zebrafish. The three-axis maze and testing protocol are used to evaluate the effects ...
Zebrafish are a popular model organism in neuroscience research, recently emerging as an excellent species to study complex social phenotypes. For example, zebrafish actively form shoals, which can be used to quantify their shoaling behaviors. Zebrafish also display strong social p ...
Zebrafish spend the majority of their time in groups, called shoals. Shoaling behavior is complex and dynamic: fish leave and rejoin the shoal, distances between shoal-members oscillate, and the speed and polarization of the shoal change on timescales of seconds to minutes. All these featur ...
In this protocol, we describe a high-throughput and inexpensive assay for anxiety-related behaviors in zebrafish. The behavioral observations occur while fish are housed individually in 1-L tanks commonly found in commercial zebrafish rearing systems. Behavioral indices incl ...
The Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a major regulator of synaptic �plasticity. CaMKII function depends on complex regulation of its activity and localization by Ca2+/CaM and several auto-phosphorylation reactions. Auto-phosphorylation at T286 ...
PKNs are serine/threonine protein kinases that have conserved catalytic domains homologous to those of protein kinase C (PKC) family members and regulatory regions containing antiparallel coiled-coil (ACC) domains and C2-like domains. PKN1 in particular is abundant in the brain, a ...
CASK, a scaffolding protein present in neuronal synapses and other cell junctions, contains a CaM-kinase domain at its N terminus. Due to lack of adequate biochemical data and based on bioinformatics, this domain was classified as a pseudokinase. But new evidence suggests that CASK is a unique ki ...
A major axis of inter-individual behavioral variation is correlated behavioral traits, known variously as behavioral syndromes, personality, or temperament. The zebrafish is a good model organism with which to explore the molecular genetic mechanisms of personality. The first st ...
The zebrafish model is being increasingly used in stress and anxiety research. The homologue of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been found in fish and is referred to as the hypothalamic-pituitary-�interrenal (HPI) axis. HPA (mammalian) and HPI (fish) axes are homolog ...
A primary goal in neuroscience is to understand how the brain gives rise to innate and learned behavior. One way to expand the contributions of zebrafish in this respect is to use a computerized system that can train larval zebrafish in various behavior assays. This will allow more efficient genetic ...
The study of diseases of the nervous system relies heavily on the use of animal models which try to replicate the human condition via various methods. The underlying assumption is that the root causes of the impairment are similar in the animal model and the human patient, thus validating the findings ...
Nerve injury and/or disease are known to provoke the release of various neurotrophic and inflammatory agents from spinal microglia and astrocytes. Prolonged exposure of spinal neurons to these ‘nociceptive mediators’ invokes pathophysiological changes that lead to the ‘centr ...
Artificially perfused brainstem preparations have several advantages over both in vivo and superfused en bloc preparations for studying respiratory circuits. They allow the analysis of neuronal function without confounding influences of anesthesia and major peripheral f ...
Neuronal networks can be properly analyzed in experimental preparations that preserve the largest �connectivity within and between brain structures. The isolated whole guinea pig brain maintained in vitro by arterial perfusion is ideal for this purpose. The methods and techniques ...
Rises of cytosolic Ca2+ (Cai) associated with early network oscillations (ENOs) are important for brain maturation. Thus, developing neural networks are often studied by combining Cai imaging with electrophysiological recording of extracellular activity and/or intracellu ...
In vitro preparations of one whole hippocampus or one entire neocortical hemisphere (so-called intact preparations) combine the technical possibilities of conventional in vitro slice preparations with the advantage of a preserved intrinsic connectivity of a defined brain reg ...
Central mammalian neurons often show spontaneous discharge of single action potentials at regular rate. Several types of such ‘tonic’ neurons are involved in sensing or control of the intake and processing of food. Brain slices containing tonically active hypothalamic neurons are one ...
Understanding mammalian neural networks such as the central pattern generator (CPG) for locomotion requires the use of multiple experimental models. In vitro approaches provide easy access to the spinal cord, thus allowing more experimental tools to be used. In this chapter, some estab ...
En bloc and transversal slice preparations from perinatal rodents are established in vitro models for studying control of breathing by neurons and neighboring glial cells in the lower brainstem. These neural “respiratory networks in the dish” show features complementary with those in ...
