Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Locomotion in larval zebrafish: Influence of time of day, lighting and ethanol.

Publication ,  Journal Article
MacPhail, RC; Brooks, J; Hunter, DL; Padnos, B; Irons, TD; Padilla, S
Published in: Neurotoxicology
January 2009

The increasing use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in developmental research highlights the need for a detailed understanding of their behavior. We studied the locomotion of individual zebrafish larva (6 days post-fertilization) in 96-well microtiter plates. Movement was recorded using a video-tracking system. Time of day results indicated locomotion, tested in darkness (infrared), decreased gradually from early morning to a stable level between 13:00 and 15:30 h. All further studies were conducted in early-to-late afternoon and lasted approximately 1 h. Each study also began with a period of darkness to minimize any unintended stimulation caused by transferring the plates to the recording platform. Locomotion in darkness increased initially to a maximum at 4 min, then decreased steadily to a low level by 20 min. Locomotion during light was initially low and then gradually increased to a stable level after 20 min. When 10-min periods of light and dark were alternated, activity was low in light and high in dark; curiously, activity during alternating dark periods was markedly higher than originally obtained during either extended dark or light. Further experiments explored the variables influencing this alternating pattern of activity. Varying the duration of the initial dark period (10-20 min) did not affect subsequent activity in either light or dark. The activity increase on return to dark was, however, greater following 15 min than 5 min of light. Acute ethanol increased activity at 1 and 2% and severely decreased activity at 4%. One-percent ethanol retarded the transition in activity from dark to light, and the habituation of activity in dark, while 2% ethanol increased activity regardless of lighting condition. Collectively, these results show that locomotion in larval zebrafish can be reliably measured in a 96-well microtiter plate format, and is sensitive to time of day, lighting conditions, and ethanol.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Neurotoxicology

DOI

EISSN

1872-9711

ISSN

0161-813X

Publication Date

January 2009

Volume

30

Issue

1

Start / End Page

52 / 58

Related Subject Headings

  • Zebrafish
  • Toxicology
  • Photoperiod
  • Male
  • Locomotion
  • Larva
  • Female
  • Ethanol
  • Animals
  • 3214 Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
MacPhail, R. C., Brooks, J., Hunter, D. L., Padnos, B., Irons, T. D., & Padilla, S. (2009). Locomotion in larval zebrafish: Influence of time of day, lighting and ethanol. Neurotoxicology, 30(1), 52–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2008.09.011
MacPhail, R. C., J. Brooks, D. L. Hunter, B. Padnos, T. D. Irons, and S. Padilla. “Locomotion in larval zebrafish: Influence of time of day, lighting and ethanol.Neurotoxicology 30, no. 1 (January 2009): 52–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2008.09.011.
MacPhail RC, Brooks J, Hunter DL, Padnos B, Irons TD, Padilla S. Locomotion in larval zebrafish: Influence of time of day, lighting and ethanol. Neurotoxicology. 2009 Jan;30(1):52–8.
MacPhail, R. C., et al. “Locomotion in larval zebrafish: Influence of time of day, lighting and ethanol.Neurotoxicology, vol. 30, no. 1, Jan. 2009, pp. 52–58. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2008.09.011.
MacPhail RC, Brooks J, Hunter DL, Padnos B, Irons TD, Padilla S. Locomotion in larval zebrafish: Influence of time of day, lighting and ethanol. Neurotoxicology. 2009 Jan;30(1):52–58.
Journal cover image

Published In

Neurotoxicology

DOI

EISSN

1872-9711

ISSN

0161-813X

Publication Date

January 2009

Volume

30

Issue

1

Start / End Page

52 / 58

Related Subject Headings

  • Zebrafish
  • Toxicology
  • Photoperiod
  • Male
  • Locomotion
  • Larva
  • Female
  • Ethanol
  • Animals
  • 3214 Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences