Different housing conditions for zebrafish: What are the effects?

Zebrafish is a popular experimental model in several research areas but little is known about the effects of using different strains or housing conditions. Poor control of genetic background and housing conditions could affect experimental results and data reproducibility. Here we investigated the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural processes 2023-06, Vol.209, p.104886-104886, Article 104886
Main Authors: Silva, Priscila F., Garcia de Leaniz, Carlos, Freire, Fulvio A.M., Silveira, Vanessa A.M., Luchiari, Ana C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety-like behaviour
Replicability
Welfare
Zebrafish strain
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Summary:Zebrafish is a popular experimental model in several research areas but little is known about the effects of using different strains or housing conditions. Poor control of genetic background and housing conditions could affect experimental results and data reproducibility. Here we investigated the effects of two possible sources of variation on zebrafish behaviour: fish origin and environmental parameters (light intensity, water temperature and noise). Zebrafish behaviour was then examined using the ‘novel tank test’, one of the most common paradigms used to assess anxiety-like behaviours in zebrafish. Our results show that an increase in light intensity alters fish behaviour, particularly freezing duration and distance from the bottom of the tank, indicating increased anxiety. Swimming activity increased at the lowest temperature (25 °C). However, different levels of background noise did not cause any significant changes in behaviour. Differences were also found between zebrafish strains and populations: while the AB strain from laboratory 1 was minimally influenced by variation in holding conditions, the AB strain from laboratory 2 was highly affected by changes in temperature, light, and background noise. Our study shows that variation in strains and holding conditions can significantly influence the results of behavioural testing and should be carefully considered in the experimental design and properly reported to improve data interpretation and reproducibility. •AB zebrafish from different laboratories present specific behavioural variations.•Farmed (FR) zebrafish were the most affected by holding conditions variation.•Housing fish under increased light intensity leads to higher anxiety-like behaviour.•Keeping fish at low temperature (25 °C) causes increase in swimming activity.•Background noise is the factor that changed the least zebrafish behaviour.
ISSN:0376-6357
1872-8308
DOI:10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104886