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. 2024 May 9;12(5):349.
doi: 10.3390/toxics12050349.

Analyzing the Effects of Age, Time of Day, and Experiment on the Basal Locomotor Activity and Light-Off Visual Motor Response Assays in Zebrafish Larvae

Niki Tagkalidou  1 , Cristiana Roberta Multisanti  2   3 , Maria Jose Bleda  4 , Juliette Bedrossiantz  1 , Eva Prats  5 , Caterina Faggio  3   6 , Carlos Barata  1 , Demetrio Raldúa  1
Affiliations

Analyzing the Effects of Age, Time of Day, and Experiment on the Basal Locomotor Activity and Light-Off Visual Motor Response Assays in Zebrafish Larvae

Niki Tagkalidou et al. Toxics. .

Abstract

The recent availability of commercial platforms for behavioral analyses in zebrafish larvae based on video-tracking technologies has exponentially increased the number of studies analyzing different behaviors in this model organism to assess neurotoxicity. Among the most commonly used assays in zebrafish larvae are basal locomotor activity (BLA) and visual motor responses (VMRs). However, the effect of different intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can significantly alter the outcome of these assays is still not well understood. In this work, we have analyzed the influence of age (5-8 days post-fertilization), time of day (8:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00; 16:00, 18:00, and 20:00 h), and experiment (three experiments performed at different days) on BLA and VMR results (4004 analyses for each behavior) in 143 larvae. The results from both behaviors were adjusted to a random-effects linear regression model using generalized least squares (GLSs), including in the model the effect of the three variables, the second-way interactions between them, and the three-way interaction. The results presented in this manuscript show a specific effect of all three intrinsic factors and their interactions on both behaviors, supporting the view that the most stable time period for performing these behavioral assays is from 10:00 am to 04:00 pm, with some differences depending on the age of the larva and the behavioral test.

Keywords: age; basal locomotor activity; behavioral analysis; experiment; intrinsic factors; light-off visual motor response; time of day; zebrafish larvae.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The effects of age, the time of the day, and the experiment on the basal locomotor activity (BLA) levels in zebrafish larvae. Boxplots indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles; whiskers show ±1.5 × IQR; and the center line within the box depicts the median. The purple line represents the BLA average (133.14 cm/10 min).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Predictive margins for basal locomotor activity (BLA) by the hour of the day in zebrafish larvae over 5 to 8 days post-fertilization. The error bars denote 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Diurnal periods with the highest stability for performing basal locomotor activity (BLA) and visual motor responses (VMRs) in zebrafish larvae. The shaded cells (orange for BLA or blue for VMR) denote that all predictive margins pairwise comparisons between times were not statistically significant.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The effects of age, the time of the day, and the experiment on the light-off visual motor response (VMR) in zebrafish larvae. Boxplots indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles; whiskers show ±1.5 × IQR; and the center line within the box depicts the median. The purple line represents the BLA average (12.91 cm), and the black line denotes the zero value.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Predictive margins for light-off visual motor response (VMR) by hour of the day in zebrafish larvae over 5 to 8 days post-fertilization. The error bars denote 95% confidence intervals.
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