Acute effects of ethanol on behavioral responses of male and female zebrafish in the open field test with the influence of a non-familiar object

[Display omitted] •We assess the influence of EtOH on boldness responses of male and female zebrafish.•Females are more anxious and shyer than males in the OFT with a non-familiar object.•EtOH at 0.5 % increases the rapid investigation to the object in females.•Exposure to 1.0 % EtOH induces immobil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural processes 2021-10, Vol.191, p.104474-104474, Article 104474
Main Authors: Souza, Thiele P., Franscescon, Francini, Stefanello, Flavia V., Müller, Talise E., Santos, Laura W., Rosemberg, Denis B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol
Behavior
Biological sex
Object interaction
Zebrafish
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Summary:[Display omitted] •We assess the influence of EtOH on boldness responses of male and female zebrafish.•Females are more anxious and shyer than males in the OFT with a non-familiar object.•EtOH at 0.5 % increases the rapid investigation to the object in females.•Exposure to 1.0 % EtOH induces immobility in males, but not in females.•Behavioral effects are explained by changes in anxiety, exploration, and locomotion. In this report, we investigate whether the acute effects of different ethanol (EtOH) concentrations are sex-dependent in zebrafish subjected to the open field test (OFT) with the influence of a non-familiar object. Male and female zebrafish were separated into four groups and exposed to EtOH (0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, or 1.0% v/v) for 1 h. Fish were tested individually in the OFT and the tank was divided into three areas: periphery, intermediate, and center area. An object (black sphere; diameter: 1 cm) was placed in the center of the tank and behaviors were recorded for 5 min. At the baseline, females had a distinct exploratory activity and interaction pattern with the object, reflecting a more anxious and shyer behavior in relation to males. Females exposed to 0.5% EtOH performed more rapid investigation to the object than males, while 1.0% EtOH reduced locomotion in both sexes and increased immobility only in males. Principal component analyses revealed that anxiety-like behaviors, exploratory activity, and locomotion were the components that most accounted for total variances. Collectively, our novel findings show the existence of a sex-dependent effect in the zebrafish models acutely exposed to EtOH tested in the OFT with a non-familiar object.
ISSN:0376-6357
1872-8308
DOI:10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104474