Abstract
Deficits in impulse control (difficulties in inhibition of a pre-potent response) are fundamental to a number of psychiatric disorders, but the molecular and cellular basis is poorly understood. Zebrafish offer a very useful model for exploring these mechanisms, but there is currently a lack of validated procedures for measuring impulsivity in fish. In mammals, impulsivity can be measured by examining rates of anticipatory responding in the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), a continuous performance task where the subject is reinforced upon accurate detection of a briefly presented light in one of five distinct spatial locations. This paper describes the development of a fully-integrated automated system for testing impulsivity in adult zebrafish. We outline the development of our image analysis software and its integration with National Instruments drivers and actuators to produce the system. We also describe an initial validation of the system through a one-generation screen of chemically mutagenized zebrafish, where the testing parameters were optimized.
Highlights
Deficits in impulse control are fundamental symptomatological, and possibly aetiological, factors in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders (APA, 2013)
Genome-wide association (GWAS) and copy-number variant (CNV) studies are increasing our knowledge of the heritability of impulse control-related disorders (Lesch et al, 2010; Vrieze et al, 2012; Ebejer et al, 2013), ethical constraints and practical difficulties associated with human studies have meant that animal models have gained popularity (Winstanley et al, 2010)
We have described the development of a fully automated testing system for adult zebrafish, designed to test aspects of impulse control
Summary
Deficits in impulse control are fundamental symptomatological, and possibly aetiological, factors in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders (APA, 2013). Genome-wide association (GWAS) and copy-number variant (CNV) studies are increasing our knowledge of the heritability of impulse control-related disorders (Lesch et al, 2010; Vrieze et al, 2012; Ebejer et al, 2013), ethical constraints and practical difficulties associated with human studies have meant that animal models have gained popularity (Winstanley et al, 2010). With this comes the added benefit of testing specific hypotheses relating to causal mechanisms (Belin et al, 2008; Dalley et al, 2011). Automation is clearly necessary to facilitate this and exploit the full extent of this species’ utility in this regard
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