Behavioral Profiling of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Larvae: Activity, Anxiety, Avoidance, and Startle Response

• DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3625-1_26
• Publication Date: 2024-01-29T09:05:19Z
• Authors: Ana M. Valentim
• Keywords: Danio; Startle response; Model Organism; Neuroethology; Animal Behavior; Escape response

Apart from morphological, biochemical, and genetic alterations induced by teratogen compounds, there is an increased interest in characterizing behavioral alterations. Behavior is a sensitive parameter that can provide information regarding developmental disruptions non-invasively. Behavioral disturbances interfere with animals' capacity to cope with the environment, having an impact on the organism's life. Hereby, behavioral assays consisting of recording larvae in multi-well plates, Petri dishes, or cuvettes and video analysis using adequate software, allowing teratogen screening of behavior, are proposed. Examples of how to evaluate locomotor, anxiety-like and avoidance-like behaviors, and the integrity of sensory-motor functions and learning are discussed in this chapter.