The number of conspecific alarm substance donors notably influences the behavioural responses of zebrafish subjected to a traumatic stress procedure.

ABSTRACT: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) represents a complementary pre-clinical model in stress and anxiety research. Conspecific alarm substance (CAS), an alarm pheromone secreted by injured fish, acts as a warning signal and modulates fear responses. Given their schooling nature and that injury precedes CAS release, varying fresh CAS concentrations extracted from different numbers of CAS-donating zebrafish may uniquely influence trauma-related behaviours. Thus, we investigated the behaviour of juvenile and adult zebrafish exposed to traumatic stress protocols, in the presence of CAS extracted from varying numbers of donating zebrafish. Juveniles were assessed for anxiety and boldness in the light-dark and open field tests (LDT and OFT), while adults were assessed in the novel tank test (NTT) and novel O

SUBMITTER: van Staden C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11865224 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature