Contextual Fear Conditioning in Zebrafish

• Published in: Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) Vol. 24; no. 10; pp. 516 - 523
• Main Authors: Kenney, Justin W, Scott, Ian C, Josselyn, Sheena A, Frankland, Paul W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 01.10.2017
• Subjects: Adults; Animals; Association Learning - drug effects; Association Learning - physiology; Conditioning; Conditioning (Psychology) - drug effects; Conditioning (Psychology) - physiology; Context Effect; Discrimination (Psychology) - drug effects; Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology; Dizocilpine Maleate - pharmacology; Electroshock; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - pharmacology; Experiments; Extinction, Psychological - drug effects; Extinction, Psychological - physiology; Fear; Fear - drug effects; Fear - physiology; Female; Genetics; Learning Processes; Male; Memory; Models, Animal; Motor Activity - drug effects; Motor Activity - physiology; Negative Reinforcement; Psychotropic Drugs - pharmacology; Spatial Behavior - drug effects; Spatial Behavior - physiology; Species Specificity; Stimuli; Time Factors; Zebrafish - physiology
• ISSN: 1072-0502; 1549-5485; 1549-5485
• DOI: 10.1101/lm.045690.117

Zebrafish are a genetically tractable vertebrate that hold considerable promise for elucidating the molecular basis of behavior. Although numerous recent advances have been made in the ability to precisely manipulate the zebrafish genome, much less is known about many aspects of learning and memory in adult fish. Here, we describe the development of a contextual fear conditioning paradigm using an electric shock as the aversive stimulus. We find that contextual fear conditioning is modulated by shock intensity, prevented by an established amnestic agent (MK-801), lasts at least 14 d, and exhibits extinction. Furthermore, fish of various background strains (AB, Tu, and TL) are able to acquire fear conditioning, but differ in fear extinction rates. Taken together, we find that contextual fear conditioning in zebrafish shares many similarities with the widely used contextual fear conditioning paradigm in rodents. Combined with the amenability of genetic manipulation in zebrafish, we anticipate that our paradigm will prove to be a useful complementary system in which to examine the molecular basis of vertebrate learning and memory.