The Zebrafish, a Novel Model Organism for Screening Compounds Affecting Acute and Chronic Ethanol-Induced Effects

Alcohol addiction is a major unmet medical and economic issue for which very few efficacious pharmacological treatment options are currently available. The development and identification of new compounds and drugs to treat alcohol addiction is hampered by the high costs and low amenability of traditional laboratory rodents to high-throughput behavioral screens. The zebrafish represents an excellent compromise between systems complexity and practical simplicity by overcoming many limitations inherent in these rodent models. In this chapter, we review current advances in the behavioral and neurochemical characterization of ethanol-induced changes in zebrafish. We also discuss the basic principles and methods of and the most recent advances in using paradigms with which one can screen for compounds altering acute and chronic ethanol-induced effects in zebrafish.