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

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.

Oxytocin Receptors Regulate Social Preference in Zebrafish.

With a strong tendency to socialise, the zebrafish is a useful model to study social behaviour, with implications for better treatments of social impairments, for instance in autism spectrum disorders. Although oxytocin is crucial for social behaviour in mammals, the importance of the fish orthologue - isotocin or zebrafish oxytocin (zOT) - for social behaviour in zebrafish is unclear. The aims of this study were firstly, to elucidate the receptor specificity of zOT and the related vasotocin or zebrafish vasopressin (zVP; the orthologue of mammalian vasopressin) and the nonpeptidergic oxytocin receptor antagonist L-368,899, and secondly to investigate if L-368,899 inhibits social preference in zebrafish.