AUDIO – GUPPY ABUSE? –

Feb. 5, 2022 – Zebrafish might seem an odd choice in studying human health, but they share 70 per cent of their genes with us and are a popular nonhuman organism used by scientists to study biological processes. They are also incredibly social, making them well-suited for behavioural studies into psychiatric disorders and drug discovery.

However, past drug research using zebrafish has studied “chronic” administration — putting fish in a drug solution for weeks. Since humans require (at the very least) some sleep, this administration can’t accurately reflect human consumption patterns. To address this limitation, we developed a new method to dose multiple fish accurately and efficiently for exact exposure times. By placing an insert into the housing tank, we can move groups of fish from their housing tank into a dosing tank for a precise dosing period, more closely mimicking the way that a person might consume drugs or alcohol. To verify that this new dosing procedure could have behavioural and neurochemical effects, we completed a series of projects using our new method to examine the effects of alcohol and nicotine.

First, we tested the zebrafish with a daily moderate dose or a weekly binge-level dose of ethanol for three weeks. We found a significant difference in location preference in the daily moderate group compared to controls during a withdrawal period, which implies there were neurological changes.

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