Three-dimensional neurophenotyping of adult zebrafish behavior

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 3; p. e17597
• Main Authors: Cachat, Jonathan, Stewart, Adam, Utterback, Eli, Hart, Peter, Gaikwad, Siddharth, Wong, Keith, Kyzar, Evan, Wu, Nadine, Kalueff, Allan V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 07.03.2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aging - drug effects; Aging - physiology; Animal reproduction; Animals; Anti-Anxiety Agents - pharmacology; Antianxiety agents; Anxiety; Automation; Behavior; Behavior, Animal - drug effects; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Biology; Brain research; Cluster Analysis; Consolidation; Consortia; Correlation analysis; Danio rerio; Data mining; Data processing; Exports; Freshwater; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Laboratories; Locomotion; Medical schools; Medicine; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena - drug effects; Neurosciences; Optimization; Pharmacology; Phenotype; Phenotyping; Swimming; Time Factors; Tracking; Zebrafish; Zebrafish - physiology; Louisiana; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017597

The use of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) in neurobehavioral research is rapidly expanding. The present large-scale study applied the newest video-tracking and data-mining technologies to further examine zebrafish anxiety-like phenotypes. Here, we generated temporal and spatial three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of zebrafish locomotion, globally assessed behavioral profiles evoked by several anxiogenic and anxiolytic manipulations, mapped individual endpoints to 3D reconstructions, and performed cluster analysis to reconfirm behavioral correlates of high- and low-anxiety states. The application of 3D swim path reconstructions consolidates behavioral data (while increasing data density) and provides a novel way to examine and represent zebrafish behavior. It also enables rapid optimization of video tracking settings to improve quantification of automated parameters, and suggests that spatiotemporal organization of zebrafish swimming activity can be affected by various experimental manipulations in a manner predicted by their anxiolytic or anxiogenic nature. Our approach markedly enhances the power of zebrafish behavioral analyses, providing innovative framework for high-throughput 3D phenotyping of adult zebrafish behavior.