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Chronic and acute alcohol administration induced neurochemical changes in the brain: comparison of distinct zebrafish populations

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Abstract

The zebrafish is increasingly utilized in the analysis of the effects of ethanol (alcohol) on brain function and behavior. We have shown significant population-dependent alcohol-induced changes in zebrafish behavior and have started to analyze alterations in dopaminergic and serotoninergic responses. Here, we analyze the effects of alcohol on levels of selected neurochemicals using a 2 × 3 (chronic × acute) between-subject alcohol exposure paradigm randomized for two zebrafish populations, AB and SF. Each fish first received the particular chronic treatment (0 or 0.5 vol/vol % alcohol) and subsequently the acute exposure (0, 0.5 or 1.0 % alcohol). We report changes in levels of dopamine, DOPAC, serotonin, 5HIAA, glutamate, GABA, aspartate, glycine and taurine as quantified from whole brain extracts using HPLC. We also analyze monoamine oxidase and tyrosine hydroxylase enzymatic activity. The results demonstrate that compared to SF, AB is more responsive to both acute alcohol exposure and acute alcohol withdrawal at the level of neurochemistry, a finding that correlates well with prior behavioral observations and one which suggests the involvement of genes in the observed alcohol effects. We discuss correlations between the current results and prior behavioral findings, and stress the importance of characterization of zebrafish strains for future behavior genetic and psychopharmacology studies.

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Acknowledgments

Supported by an NIH/NIAAA R01 grant to RG.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest of any sort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Rm 4023C, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada

    Diptendu Chatterjee & Robert Gerlai

  2. Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Soaleha Shams & Robert Gerlai

Authors
  1. Diptendu Chatterjee
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  2. Soaleha Shams
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  3. Robert Gerlai
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Correspondence to Robert Gerlai.

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Chatterjee, D., Shams, S. & Gerlai, R. Chronic and acute alcohol administration induced neurochemical changes in the brain: comparison of distinct zebrafish populations. Amino Acids 46, 921–930 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-013-1658-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-013-1658-y

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