The Body Size of Stimulus Conspecifics Affects Social Preference in a Binary Choice Task in Wild-Type, but Not in dyrk1aa Mutant, Zebrafish

Morteza Aslanzadeh, Krishan Ariyasiri, Oc Hee Kim, Tae Ik Choi, Jae Hoon Lim, Hyung Goo Kim, Robert Gerlai, Cheol Hee Kim*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The zebrafish has become an appropriate animal model in the analysis of numerous human brain disorders. A variety of neuropsychiatric conditions and neurodevelopmental disorders are comorbid with abnormal social behavior. Given the translational relevance of zebrafish, multidisciplinary studies employing behavioral, neurobiological, and molecular methods with this species may provide insights into human central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Many of these studies impinge upon our ability to properly induce and quantify the behavior of zebrafish, a relatively understudied aspect of this species. In this study, we investigate how the body size of conspecifics relative to that of the test subject influences social (shoaling) responses in zebrafish. We found a robust preference by wild-type (WT) test zebrafish toward big conspecifics, but not toward smaller conspecifics. Additionally, we tested an autism-relevant zebrafish knockout (KO) model. The dyrk1aa KO zebrafish showed impaired social preference compared with WT in the social behavior test. Our results confirm the effect of relative body size on social preference and that the social preference task developed for zebrafish may uncover the function of genes and biological mechanisms potentially associated with human CNS disorders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)262-267
Number of pages6
JournalZebrafish
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2019

Keywords

  • Danio rerio
  • autism spectrum disorders
  • shoaling
  • social behavior
  • social preference task

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Body Size of Stimulus Conspecifics Affects Social Preference in a Binary Choice Task in Wild-Type, but Not in dyrk1aa Mutant, Zebrafish'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this