Anxiolytic-like effects of acute serotonin-releasing agents in zebrafish models of anxiety: experimental study and systematic review

Abstract

Though commonly used to model affective disorders, zebrafish display notable differences in terms of the structure and function of the brain serotonin system, including responses to pharmacological interventions, as compared to mammals. For example, elevation of brain serotonin following acute administration of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) generally has anxiogenic effects, both in the clinical situation and in rodent models of anxiety, but previous research has indicated the opposite in zebrafish. However, several issues remain unresolved. We conducted a systematic review of SRI effects in zebrafish models of anxiety and, on the basis of these results, performed a series of experiments further investigating the influence of serotonin-releasing agents on anxiety-like behaviour in zebrafish, with sex-segregated wild-type animals being administered either escitalopram, or the serotonin releaser fenfluramine, in the light-dark test. In the systematic review, we find that the available literature indicates an anxiolytic-like effect of SRIs in the novel-tank diving test. Regarding the light-dark test, most studies reported no behavioural effects of SRIs, although the few that did generally saw anxiolytic-like responses. In the experimental studies, consistent anxiolytic-like effects were observed with neither sex nor habituation influencing treatment response. We find that the general effect of acute SRI administration in zebrafish indeed appears to be anxiolytic-like, indicating, at least partly, differences in the functioning of the serotonin system as compared to mammals and that caution is advised when using zebrafish to model affective disorders.

Keywords: SSRI; Serotonin; anxiety; zebrafish.