A methodological exploration of drug dosage time in Zebrafish behavioural pharmacology research

Abstract

A lack of standardization, and proper reporting, has led to methodological concerns in neuropsychological and neuropharmacological zebrafish research. Of these concerns, those with actionable and relatively easy solutions are the administered drug dose and the dosing time (the time the fish spends in a drug solution) for a given drug. The current study aims to systematically investigate these concerns in an attempt to standardize research methods related to zebrafish drug administration in the future. The current study used a well-validated measure of zebrafish behaviour, the open field test (In press in Scientific Reports). A well-validated anxiolytic substance was also used to ensure robust study results; lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was thus used (Grossman et al., 2010; Kyzar, Collins, Gaikwad, et al., 2012). A three-by-three dose (50ug, 100ug, 250ug) and dosing time matrix (10, 20, and 30 minutes) was implemented to determine the interactive effects of the two variables. Results from the study indicate a significant difference in swimming velocity (F= 4.039, p<0.001), distance moved (F= 3.414, p=0.003), and cumulative time spent in the thigmotaxic zone (F= 2.543, p=0.021) across the matrix. These results indicate the necessity to include detailed accounts of these variables in all studies and not to assume that two studies are identical if these values are not identical.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Melike Schalomon