Fish on Prozac The Effects of Serotonergic Manipulation on Avoidance Learning in the Goldfish (Carassius Auratus)

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Beulig, Alfred

Keywords

Teleost, Serotonin, Shuttle Box, Goldfish, Avoidance Learning

Area of Concentration

Biological Psychology

Abstract

Researchers have suggested a conservation of serotonergic function across vertebrate sub-phyla. Relatively little work, however, has been done to confirm this suggestion, especially in teleosts. Behavioral responses to serotonin manipulation offer an appropriate assessment of this issue. Goldfish, Carassius auratus, were tested in a two-way active avoidance leaming (shuttle box) procedure. Research in mammals suggests a negative correlation between serotonergic activity and avoidance performance in this task. Similar results were expected in Carassius. Subjects were divided into three groups according to phar-macological treatment. The SSRI fluoxetine (Prozac) was used to potentiate serotonergic transmission, while the selective 5-HTI A antagonist WAY 100,635 (WAY) was used to inhibit serotonergic transmission. Drugs were delivered via direct introduction to aquaria to facilitate chronic exposure. A control group received 'sham' treatments of water. Subjects were trained for 13 sessions, 15 trials per session. As expected., WAY-treated subjects performed consistently better than control- or fluoxetine-treated groups, as measured by the number of avoidance responses. A two- way ANOVA revealed significant differences between mean avoidance performance (p = .0079). Fluoxetine-treated subjects performed on a level comparable to controls. It is suggested that exhaustive training or variation of dose may have resulted in fluoxetineinduced impairment of performance. The results offer support for the suggestion that serotonergic function has been phylogenetically preserved across vertebrates. The results are intriguing at the very least, and certainly warrant future investigations.

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