Bold and anxious fish help in the hunt for medication for ADHD and depression
Personality is genetic in zebrafish: risk-taking parents have risk-taking children. These are the findings of research by Christian Tudorache and his team published in BMC Neuroscience. The research may help to develop medication for people with depression, for example.
Zebrafish have a personality just like people do. There are proactive fish that take risks, are aggressive and quickly adopt routine behaviour. These bold fish are quicker to explore new environments, which means they are sooner to find new food but also to meet predators. Reactive zebrafish take fewer risks and are more anxious and flexible. This makes them less likely to find new food but also to be eaten.
Read the article Risk taking behaviour predicts consistent and heritable coping styles in zebrafish in BMC Neuroscience.
Tudorache has various personality tests for fish.
Testing fish personality
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Medication for humans
Now that the researchers have these generations of zebrafish, they will be able to conduct more research. This could help test drugs for ADHD, depression and bipolar disorder. Human genes associated with forms of neurodiversity correspond with genes in zebrafish. ‘In proactive fish we see, for example, a gene that is similar to a human gene that is related to ADHD’, Tudorache explains. ‘And we see depressive behaviour in reactive fishes. They are more sensitive to stress and more likely to burn out. Then they lie in a corner and avoid social contact with other fish. You feel sorry for them, but it does help see if antidepressants work.’
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