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Behavioral responses of zebrafish depend on the type of threatening chemical cues

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Abstract

In fish, defensive reactions are induced by different chemical cues that emanate from sense-related stresses [physical, chemical, and visual (visual contact with predator)] or food stresses (acute fasting and chronic food restriction). Using a shuttle box with a two-chamber unmixed laminar flow that allowed fish to remain or flee from a chemical cue, we showed that the avoidance response depended on the type of the chemical cue. We show that zebrafish (Danio rerio) retreated from water conditioned with chemical cues released by chemically or physically stressed fish and acutely fasted fish, but not from water with cues from fish experiencing visual contact with predatory fish or fish suffering from chronic food restriction. Our data reinforced the hypothesis that fish use a combination of information and the context of the situation to determine their evasion strategy.

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Acknowledgments

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal Use (CEUA) of the University of Passo Fundo (UPF), registration 29/2014, meeting the guidelines of the National Council of Animal Experimentation Control (CONCEA). The study was funded by the Universidade de Passo Fundo, and CNPq L.J.G.B. and R.E.B. hold CNPq research fellowships (301992/2014-2 and 302719/2013-0, respectively). ANYmaze® software (Stoelting, Co, USA) provided this software for behavioral analysis. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Farmacologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, RS, Brazil

    Murilo S. Abreu, Gessi Koakoski, Thiago A. Oliveira & Leonardo J. G. Barcellos

  2. Universidade de Passo Fundo (UPF), Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil

    Ana Cristina V. Giacomini, Darlan Gusso & Leonardo J. G. Barcellos

  3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioexperimentação, Universidade de Passo Fundo (UPF), Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil

    Leonardo J. G. Barcellos

  4. Department of Physiology, Institute of Biosciences of Botucatu, Caunesp, Unesp, Botucau, SP, Brazil

    Rodrigo Egydio Barreto

  5. Centro Universitário La Salle-Unilasalle, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Avaliação de Impactos Ambientais, Canoas, RS, Brazil

    Alessandra Marqueze

Authors
  1. Murilo S. Abreu
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  2. Ana Cristina V. Giacomini
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  3. Darlan Gusso
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  4. Gessi Koakoski
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  5. Thiago A. Oliveira
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  6. Alessandra Marqueze
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  7. Rodrigo Egydio Barreto
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  8. Leonardo J. G. Barcellos
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Correspondence to Leonardo J. G. Barcellos.

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Abreu, M.S., Giacomini, A.C.V., Gusso, D. et al. Behavioral responses of zebrafish depend on the type of threatening chemical cues. J Comp Physiol A 202, 895–901 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1129-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-016-1129-5

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