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Updated: Dec 24, 2025
A Novel Method of Drug Administration to Multiple Zebrafish Danio rerio and the Quantification of Withdrawal
Published on: November 12, 2014
NOS-2 participates in the behavioral effects of ethanol withdrawal in zebrafish
Suianny Nayara da Silva Chaves1, Bruna Patricia Dutra Costa2, Gabriela Cristini Vidal Gomes1
1Laboratório De Neurociências e Comportamento "Frederico Guilherme Graeff", Faculdade De Psicologia, Universidade Federal Do Sul e Sudeste Do Pará, Marabá, PA, Brazil.
Abstract:
Nitric oxide has been implicated in symptoms of ethanol withdrawal in animal models. Zebrafish have been used as models to study neurobehavioral effects of ethanol (EtOH) withdrawal, but the mechanisms associated with these effects are not yet clear. Adult zebrafish were treated with 1% EtOH for 20 min per day for 8 days, injected with the nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS-2) inhibitor aminoguanidine (50 mg/kg), and allowed to experience withdrawal (WD) in their hometanks for 7 days. EtOH WD increased anxiety-like behavior in the novel tank test, an effect that was blocked by aminoguanidine. EtOH WD also increased brain levels of nitrite, an effect that was partially blocked by aminoguanidine. These results underline a novel mechanism by which NOS-2 controls anxiety-like responses to ethanol withdrawal, with implications for the mechanistic study of symptoms associated with chronic ethanol abuse. Preprint: https://dx.doi.org/10.20944/preprints201912.0219.v1 Data and scripts: https://github.com/lanec-unifesspa/etoh-withdrawal/tree/master/NOS2.
